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,    )  RIEND  THE  CENSUS 


JFE  AND  LETTERS 


JOHN  RICKMAN 


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:    KLO  WILLIAMS 


John  Rickman. 

(From  an  engraving  published  in  1843.) 


Lamb's  Friend  the  Census-Taker 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF 
JOHN  RICKMAN 


BY 
ORLO    WILLIAMS 


ILLUSTRATED 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 

HOUGHTON   MIFFLIN   COMPANY 

1912 


TO    MY 

MOTHER  AND  FATHER 


PREFACE 

My  thanks  are  due  in  the  first  place  to  the  Rev.  W.  F. 
Rickman,  the  grandson  of  John  Rickman,  for  his  good- 
ness in  placing  at  my  disposal  the  bulk  of  the  correspond- 
ence which  is  in  his  possession.  Without  his  kindness 
this  book  would  have  been  impossible.  To  John  Rickman 's 
granddaughter,  Miss  Lefroy,  I  am  also  very  deeply  in- 
debted. She  has  allowed  me  to  reproduce  a  unique 
sketch  made  by  her  mother,  to  draw  upon  her  mother's 
very  interesting  reminiscences,  and  to  use  some  other 
letters  of  her  grandfather's  which  are  in  her  possession. 
I  wish  to  thank  Miss  Warter  for  permission  to  give 
extracts  from  unpublished  letters  of  Southey's,  Mr.  E.  V. 
Lucas  and  Mr.  Gordon  Wordsworth  for  permission  to 
print  a  long  letter  from  Lamb  to  Rickman,  Messrs. 
Macmillan  &  Co.  for  permission  to  use  letters  which 
appeared  in  Mrs.  Sandford's  Thomas  Poole  and  his  Friends, 
and  H.M.  Office  of  Works  for  the  loan  of  a  photograph. 
Leave  to  publish  the  Coleridge  letters  was  given  by 
Mr.  Ernest  Hartley  Coleridge.  I  also  mention  that  two 
articles  by  me,  based  on  the  letters,  appeared  in 
Blackwood's  Magazine  this  year,  and  that  for  the  political 
history  I  have  received  great  assistance  from  vol.  xi.  of 
The  Political  History  of  England. 

ORLO  WILLIAMS. 

20  Iverna  Court, 
Kensington,  W. 


CONTENTS 


PA(iE 


Introduction 1 


CHAPTER  I 

The  Rickman  family — Early  life  of  John  Rickman — His  meeting 

with  Southey — BSguinages — Departure  from  Christchurch      .         19 


CHAPTER  II 

1800 
Rickman    in     London — George     Dyer — The    Magazine — Lamb's 
'  pleasant    hand  ' — Southey's  Thalaba — Dyer's   preface — The 
first  Population  Act — Rickman  and  the  census        ...         26 

CHAPTER  III 
1801  to  early  1802 

George  Burnett — Rickman  secretary  to  Abbot  in  Ireland — Letters 
from  Lamb — G.  D.'s  rescue — His  letter — '  Horse  medicine  ' 
for  Burnett — His  '  second  birth  '  and  tutorship — Lamb  and  the 
Morning  Post — Abbot  appointed  Speaker — Rickman  leaves 
Ireland         ..........         44 

CHAPTER  IV 

1802-1805 

Secretaryship  to  the  Speaker — Bag  and  sword — Thomas  Poole — 
George  Burnett  again — G.  B.  quarrels  with  Southey — Lamb's 
opinion  of  it — Southey's  first  visit  to  Rickman — Poole  and 
Poor  Laws — Another  letter  from  G.  Dyer — His  '  patronage  '  of 
Lamb — Burnett's  letters — Rickman's  temper — Coleridge — 
Rickman  finds  him  a  ship — His  letters — Ned  Phillips — Over- 
work— An  unromantic  marriage 77 


x       LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 
CHAPTER  V 

PAGE 

Family  life  at  Westminster — A  stern  father — The  houses  in  Palace 
Yard  —  Church  parade  —  Late  dinner  —  The  Burneys  and 
other  friends — Lamb's  Wednesday  evenings — Driving  in  the 
gig — Telford — Rickman's  official  work 118 


CHAPTER  VI 
1806-1816 
Political  letters  to  Southey  and  Poole — The  Friend — The  Regency 
Bill — The  Quarterly  Review — Burnett's  death — Coleridge  on 
Lamb's  weaknesses — Shelley — Murder  of  Perceval — Coleridge 
on  '  Remorse  ' — Rickman's  good  advice  to  Southey — Southey 
Poet  Laureate — His  truculence  curbed  by  Rickman — Waterloo 
— Rickman  the  consoler — Economic  distress  in  the  country — 
Rickman  on  '  Mock  Humanity  '  and  the  Press      .         .         .135 

CHAPTER  VII 
1817-1829 

Southey's  '  Wat  Tyler ' — Rickman's  views  on  poor  law  reform — His 
article  in  the  Quarterly — A  letter  from  Luke  Hansard — Rick- 
man's depression — Letters  to  Lord  Colchester — Scottish  tour 
with  Southey — The  model  beguinage — Depression  again — Rick- 
man on  Canning — Opening  of  the  Caledonian  Canal — Bertha 
Southey — Roman  Catholic  relief — Rickman's  part  in  Southey's 
essays — State  of  Ireland — Catholic  Relief  Bill  passed — Co- 
operation— Rickman  Lamb's  '  friend  '  in  1829         .         .         .       188 


CHAPTER  VIII 
1830-1832 

Parliamentary  reform — Letters  purely  political — Macaulay's 
maiden  speech — Rickman  the  political  philosopher — Calls 
Southey  to  arms — '  Monarchy  or  Democracy  ' — The  projected 
Colloquies — Rickman's  outline — Introduction  of  the  Reform 
Bill — Rickman  on  the  debate — Dissolution — The  second  Bill 
— An  all-night  sitting — O'Connell's  Irish  devils — Murray  and 
the  Colloquies — The  third  Bill — Wellington's  failure  to  form  a 
ministry — The  Bill  passes — Murray  and  Spottiswoode  impede 
the  Colloquies — Rickman  wishes  to  retire       ....       249 


CONTENTS  xi 

CHAPTER  IX 
1833-1840 

PAGE 

The  reformed  House  of  Commons — The  new  Devils  and  the  Whig 
Devils — Lamb  dines  with  Rickman — Rickman  on  Wellington — 
The  fire  at  the  Houses  of  Parliament — A  graphic  account — 
Henry  Taylor  the  hero — Lamb's  death — Rickman's  comment 
— Southey  offered  a  baronetcy — The  Exchequer  demolished 
— Judge  Jeffreys'  house — Rickman's  illness  and  death — 
Tribute  of  the  House 299 


LIST    OF    ILLUSTRATIONS 

JOHN  RiOKMAN Frontispiece 

From  an  engraving  published  in  1843 

ST.    STEPHEN'S  CHAPEL  AND  THE  SPEAKER'S  HOUSE 

before  the  fire  in  1834    ....   Facing  page  77 
From  a  drawing  in  the  British  Museum 

THE   ENTRANCE   FROM   NEW  PALACE   YARD   TO   THE 

SPEAKER'S    COURT „  124 

From  Smith's  '  Antiquities  of  Westminster ' 

THE  SPEAKER'S  COURTYARD  FROM  THE  SOUTH- 
WEST        „  124 

From  Smith's  '  Antiquities  of  Westminster ' 

RICKM AN  LEAVING  THE  CLERK   ASSISTANT'S   HOUSE  „  125 

From  a  water-colour  sketch  by  Mrs.  Lefroy  (1831) 

NORTH-WEST  VIEW  OF  WESTMINSTER  HALL,  TAKEN 
BEFORE  THE  REMOVAL  OF  THE  COFFEE-HOUSES 
AND  PILLARS,  BY  THOMAS  SANDBY,  R. A.  .  „  129 

From  Smith's  '  Antiquities  of  Westminster ' 

THE  BURNING   OF   THE   HOUSES  OF  PARLIAMENT   IN 

1834 ,,309 

From  a  drawing  in  the  British  Museum 

JUDGE  JEFFREYS'  HOUSE  IN  DUKE  STREET,  WEST- 
MINSTER    ,,317 

From  a  water-colour  sketch  by  T.  H.  Shepherd  in  1853, 
in  the  British  Museum 

A  VIEW  OF  JUDGE  JEFFREYS'  HOUSE  FROM  BIRD- 
CAGE WALK,  TAKEN  JUST  BEFORE  ITS  DEMO- 
LITION  IN    1910 ,,318 

From  a  photograph  lent  by  H.  M.  Office  of  Works 


xiii 


LAMB'S  FRIEND  THE  CENSUS-TAKER 


INTRODUCTION 

It  was  in  collecting  material  for  a  memorandum  on  the 
history  of  the  officials  of  the  House  of  Commons — of  whom 
I  am  happy  to  be  one — that  I  first  met  the  name  of  John 
Rickman  ;  and  it  was  from  the  memoir  by  his  son,  reprinted 
from  an  obituary  notice  in  the  Gentleman's  Magazine,  that 
I  first  learnt  the  details  of  his  life.  I  discovered  that  one 
of  my  own  profession — for  Rickman  was  Speaker's  Secretary 
for  twelve,  and  Clerk  at  the  Table  for  twenty-six,  years — 
had  been  the  originator  of  the  census  in  England  and  super- 
vised the  population  returns  for  four  successive  decades, 
that  he  had  become  a  statistician  celebrated  even  outside 
England,  that  he  was  intimate  with  Southey  and  Lamb  and 
Coleridge,  and — most  interesting  of  all — that  he  had  left  a 
large  body  of  correspondence  with  these  and  other  friends. 
Now  the  memoir,  written  in  the  formal,  lapidary  style  dear 
to  the  Early  Victorians,  does  not  present  Rickman  as  a 
particularly  promising  subject  for  a  biographical  study. 
It  leaves  the  reader  with  an  impression  of  an  austere  being 
who  lived  only  to  perform  prodigious  labours  :  a  worthy 
person  no  doubt,  but,  to  put  it  briefly,  dull.  Yet  the 
memoir  is  humanised  by  one  inclusion,  that  of  Charles 
Lamb's  well-known  letter  to  Manning  in  1800,  describing  his 
new  acquaintance  Rickman  as  a  '  pleasant  hand '  with  all 
the  exuberance  of  Elian  ecstasy.  The  fact  that  Rickman 
could  have  inspired  such  words  from  such  a  man  was 
enough  to  tempt  me  further.  I  determined,  if  it  were 
humanly  possible,  to  possess  myself  of  a  correspondence 
which  had  apparently  lain  hidden  for  seventy  years.  My 
inquiries  as  to  its  existence  were  delayed  by  the  exigencies 
of  other  tasks,  but  I  was  able  in  the  meantime  to  gather 

A 


2        LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

such  further  information  as  was  to  be  derived  from  pub- 
lished sources.  Rickman's  name  appears  in  many  books — 
frequently  in  Southey's  voluminous  correspondence,  in 
Mrs.  Sandford's  Thomas  Poole  and  his  Friends,  in  the  corre- 
spondence of  Lamb,  in  biographies  of  Lamb,  Southey,  and 
Coleridge,  in  Crabb  Robinson's  and  Lord  Colchester's  diaries, 
and  in  the  Dictionary  of  National  Biography — yet  at  the  end 
of  my  reading  I  seemed  to  have  gained  no  more  than  indi- 
cations of  Rickman's  possible  interest  if  more  were  known 
about  him.  He  seemed  to  flit  through  the  pages  of  books 
like  a  literary  ghost  to  whom  flesh  and  blood  had  never 
been  given,  though  Mr.  E.  V.  Lucas,  in  his  charming  and 
masterly  Life  of  Charles  Lamb,  has  certainly  been  successful 
in  giving  him  some  semblance  of  reality  ;  but  the  informa- 
tion available  to  Mr.  Lucas  was  comparatively  scanty,  and 
so  elusive  does  even  his  Rickman  seem  to  be  that  none  of 
my  friends — even  those  who  prided  themselves  on  peculiar 
intimacy  with  Lamb's  life  and  circle — has  ever  shown  the 
smallest  sign  of  intelligence  on  my  mentioning  his  name. 
Yet  Lamb  lauded  him  to  the  skies,  and  found  him  the 
fittest  recipient  of  the  latest  drolleries  of  his  friends ;  Southey 
leaned  upon  him  for  forty  years ;  Coleridge  admired  him 
whole-heartedly  :  his  life  was  spent  in  laborious  service 
for  England,  and  he  invented  the  means  for  his  carrying 
out  that  numbering  of  the  people  which  has  taken  place 
this  year  for  the  twelfth  time.  If  he  had  lived  and  died  in 
more  modern  times  he  would  have  been  highly  honoured  in 
his  life,  and  his  biography  would  have  anticipated  the  first 
anniversary  of  his  death.  But  plain  John  Rickman,  F.R.S., 
shunned  notoriety  while  he  lived,  and  when  he  died  he  was 
forgotten. 

And  why  has  he  been  forgotten  ?  Chiefly  because  we  have 
known  nothing  of  the  man  himself — whether  he  was  prig 
or  prude,  witty  or  dull,  Whig  or  Tory  ;  why  he  was  so 
prized  at  Lamb's  Wednesday  evenings,  what  he  had  to 
do  with  such  oddities  as  George  Dyer  and  George  Burnett, 
how  he  regarded  the  political  conflict  of  which  he  was  a 
close  witness  for  nearly  forty  years.     The  answers  to  these 


INTRODUCTION  3 

questions  are  now  no  longer  in  doubt,  and  that  is  the  reason 
of  this  book.  The  quest  of  Hickman's  letters  proved 
absurdly  easy,  and  if  Lamb's  '  pleasant  hand  '  is  still  a 
phantom,  the  fault  is  entirely  mine. 

Of  the  documents  themselves  I  must  say  a  word  in 
passing,  for  they  are  not  inconsiderable  in  bulk.  The 
correspondence  preserved  in  the  Rickman  family  consists, 
firstly,  of  the  letters  which  passed  between  Southey  and 
Rickman  from  1798  to  1839  ;  secondly,  of  certain  letters 
written  by  Rickman  to  his  wife  or  daughters,  mostly 
accounts  of  tours ;  thirdly,  twenty-three  letters  from 
Charles  Lamb  ;  fourthly,  fifteen  letters  from  Coleridge. 
In  the  British  Museum  are  some  thirty  letters  from  Rickman 
to  Coleridge's  friend,  Thomas  Poole  of  Nether  Stowey. 
Mr.  Gordon  Wordsworth  has  another  letter  from  Lamb, 
one  of  the  longest  and  most  characteristic  in  all  Lamb's 
correspondence  ;  and  there  are  four  letters  from  Rickman 
quoted  in  the  diaries  of  Lord  Colchester,  to  whom,  as  Speaker 
Abbot,  Rickman  was  secretary.  The  Southey-Rickman 
correspondence  consists  of  over  twelve  hundred  letters  of 
varying  length.  It  was  used  by  the  editors  of  Southey's 
correspondence,  who  have  published  about  two  hundred 
of  Southey's,  and  quoted  from  about  thirty  of  Rickman 's, 
letters.  From  this  mass  I  have  had  to  select  what  was  of 
permanent  interest,  and  in  doing  so  I  have  only  quoted 
Southey  sparingly,  chiefly  from  unpublished  letters,  for  the 
tenor  of  his  correspondence  is  already  well  known.  Two 
at  least  of  Rickman's  family  letters  are  of  great  interest, 
and  with  them  may  be  classed  the  reminiscences  of  his 
daughter,  Mrs.  Lefroy,  which  give  many  details  of  the 
household  life  at  Westminster.  The  letters  from  Lamb, 
except  that  in  Mr.  Gordon  Wordsworth's  possession,  were 
published  in  Canon  Ainger's  1906  edition  of  Lamb's  Letters, 
and  I  am  precluded  from  using  them.  I  publish  seven  of 
the  Coleridge  letters  for  the  first  time,  a  proceeding  which 
their  interest  fully  justifies.  I  have  selected,  again,  from 
the  Poole  letters  in  the  British  Museum,  omitting  some 
passages  included  in  Mrs.  Sandford's  Thomas  Poole  and 


4        LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

his  Friends,  and  including  others  not  quoted  there.  These 
various  items  supplement  one  another  particularly  well, 
and  there  are  practically  no  lacunae  making  conjecture 
necessary,  though  we  cannot  but  lament  the  absence  of 
Rickman's  letters  to  Lamb. 

My  aim,  so  far  as  possible,  has  been  to  allow  the  letters 
to  speak  for  themselves  ;  still,  even  for  the  task  of  selecting 
and  combining,  a  point  of  view  is  necessary.  My  point  of 
view  is  illustrated  by  the  title  I  have  chosen,  which  is  an 
answer  to  a  difficult  question  frequently  put  to  me,  namely, 
'  Who  was  Rickman  ?  '  He  was  many  things,  as  I  have 
said — census-taker,  Parliamentary  official,  the  friend  of 
several  men  whose  names  will  live  as  long  as  English  litera- 
ture. But  the  quality  which  has  appealed  most  of  all  to 
my  mind,  and  on  which  I  base  the  immediate  interest  of 
this  book,  is  that  he  was  Lamb's  friend,  that  is,  a  human 
being  with  certain  distinctive  human  qualities.  Rickman, 
I  admit,  was  far  more  intimately  acquainted  with  Southey 
than  with  Lamb,  but  to  have  been  Southey 's  friend  is  no 
differentia.  With  Lamb  it  is  different.  Elia,  as  he  tells  us 
himself,  chose  his  '  ragged  regiment '  of  '  intimados  '  with 
care,  and  he  immortalised  them  all — Dyer,  Burnett,  Jem 
White,  '  Ralph  Bigod,'  and  the  rest — as  parts  of  his  own 
immortal  character.  He  cared  not  one  whit  for  a  man's 
achievements  or  possessions,  but  took  a  friend  to  his  heart, 
and  planted  him  there,  because,  vigorous  or  feeble,  radiant 
or  sickly,  he  was  of  that  genus  called  common  humanity, 
which  Elia  loved  so  dearly  till  the  day  he  died.  I  have 
tried,  therefore,  to  let  Rickman  reveal  himself,  not  as  the 
austere,  stolid  worker  (which  was  only  one  side  of  him), 
but  as  a  very  definite  personality  with  forcible  views  and 
an  interesting  life.  Some  may  think  that  I  have  treated 
his  actual  work  too  summarily  ;  but  this  is  not  an  economical 
treatise  on  the  census,  which,  when  all  has  been  said,  is 
not  a  particularly  enlivening  subject. 

Who,  then,  was  Rickman  ?  As  I  have  begun,  so  I  will 
continue,  by  speaking  first  of  his  friendships,  for  they  are 
a  clue  to  his  character.    It  is  remarkable  that,  though  he 


INTRODUCTION  5 

was  externally  unbending  and  severe,  intolerant  of  other 
people's  weaknesses,  and  indifferent  whether  his  very  great 
benevolence  was  presented  in  acceptable  form  to  those  who 
stood  in  need  of  it,  his  friends  invariably  spoke  of  him  with 
admiration  and  affection.  Lamb,  besides  the  letter  to 
Manning  which  I  have  mentioned,  wrote  on  another  occa- 
sion :  '  His  memory  will  be  to  me  as  the  brazen  serpent 
to  the  Israelites, — I  shall  look  up  to  it,  to  keep  me  straight 
and  honest.'  Coleridge  called  him  a  '  sterling  man,'  and 
assured  him  of  his  unaffected  esteem.  Talfourd  alludes 
to  him  as  '  the  sturdiest  of  jovial  companions.'  From 
Southey's  many  expressions  of  affection  I  choose  this  : 
'  God  bless  you,  my  dear  R.,  I  would  often  give  much  for 
a  quiet  evening's  conversation  with  you.'  Southey  was 
Rickman's  earliest  friend,  for  their  meeting  took  place  in 
1797,  when  Rickman  was  twenty-six,  and  the  friendship 
lasted  without  a  shadow  till  Rickman's  death.  What 
drew  them  together  was  a  certain  firmness  of  character 
and  similarity  of  views.  Both  were  revolutionaries  when 
they  met ;  both  crystallised  simultaneously  into  Tories. 
Rickman  befriended  Southey  in  every  possible  way.  He 
acted  as  his  literary  agent  when  the  poet  was  in  Portugal, 
he  procured  him  a  secretaryship  when  he  returned,  he 
opened  his  house  to  him  whenever  he  visited  London,  he 
sent  him  books  and  Parliamentary  papers  for  his  reviews, 
he  was  never  too  busy  to  research  for  him  and  embody  the 
result  in  eight  quarto  pages  of  close  writing,  he  paid  his 
fees  for  a  doctor's  degree  in  a  particularly  graceful  manner, 
and  he  would  have  lent  him  money  if  it  had  been  necessary. 
If  he  was  stoical  as  a  comforter,  he  was  admirable  as  a 
counsellor.  With  equal  good  sense  he  pointed  out  the 
extravagances  of  Southey's  first  poem  as  Laureate,  remon- 
strated with  him  on  his  excessive  use  of  religious  epithets, 
and  dissuaded  him  from  outraging  public  opinion  by  refus- 
ing to  adopt  the  incorrect  name  of  Waterloo  for  Wellington's 
great  victory.  But  the  friendship  with  Southey  was  so 
intimate  a  part  of  Rickman's  whole  life  that  I  need  say 
no  more  of  it  here.     I  will  but  mention  the  interesting  fact, 


6        LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

which  comes  to  light,  that  Rickman  practically  wrote  the 
whole  of  one  of  Southey's  published  essays,  and  that  the 
letters,  among  other  things,  give  many  interesting  details 
of  the  never-finished  '  Colloquies  '  which  the  two  friends 
undertook  in  collaboration  in  1831. 

Mr.  E.  V.  Lucas  gives  a  very  adequate  account  of  Rick- 
man's  friendship  with  Lamb.  It  began  in  great  warmth 
on  both  sides.  Lamb  thought  Rickman  '  absolute  in  all 
numbers,'  and  Rickman  hugely  enjoyed  Lamb's  wit.  So 
long  as  Lamb  lived  in  London  this  firm  attachment  lasted. 
Rickman  attended  regularly  to  play  whist  at  the  Wednesday 
evenings,  and  he  was  one  of  that  steadier  crew  who  checked 
the  more  demoralising  influence  of  such  men  as  Fell  and 
Fen  wick  on  the  volatile  Elia.  The  affection  of  Lamb  for 
Rickman  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  in  1803  he  came  to 
stay  in  Palace  Yard  while  Mary  Lamb  was  suffering  from 
one  of  her  attacks  of  lunacy,  for  on  these  occasions  Lamb 
shunned  all  ordinary  society.  Mrs.  Lefroy  gives  a  picture 
of  the  Lambs  on  a  visit — Charles  '  with  rather  the  air  of  a 
dissenting  preacher  '  uttering  a  pun  in  a  far  corner  of  the 
room,  and  Mary  '  a  stout,  roundabout  little  body  with  a 
turban,  and  a  layer  of  snuff  on  her  upper  lip.'  In  later 
years  the  friendship  cooled  to  some  extent.  Rickman  be- 
came busier,  the  Lambs  left  London,  and  Charles  became 
more  intemperate.  Yet  in  1829 — a  fact  not  hitherto 
known — Lamb  again  stayed  with  Rickman  when  Mary 
was  ill,  and  in  1833  he  dined  with  him  to  be  reconciled  to 
his  friend  Godwin.  Lamb  died  at  the  end  of  1834,  and 
his  death  occasioned  curious  remarks  from  both  Rickman 
and  Southey,  which  are  characteristic  of  their  not  too 
sympathetic  natures. 

The  chief  interest  of  Coleridge  in  Rickman's  life  lies  in 
the  unpublished  letters.  One  of  these  is  an  ingenuous 
comment  by  the  opium-drinker  on  Hazlitt's  too  frequently 
convivial  visits  to  Lamb,  with  a  curious  remark  about  the 
influence  of  tobacco  on  Lamb's  desire  for  alcohol.  Another 
describes  the  rehearsals  of  his  tragedy  '  Remorse,'  proving 
that  Rickman  made  some  very  acceptable  emendations, 


INTRODUCTION  7 

The  census-taker  had  a  profound  admiration  for  Coleridge's 
genius,  and  an  entire  contempt  for  his  character.  He  wrote 
of  him  :  '  If  he  dies,  it  will  be  from  a  sulky  imagination, 
produced  from  the  general  cause  of  such  things,  i.e.  a  want 
of  regular  work  and  application/  Yet,  as  one  of  the  letters 
which  I  publish  shows,  Coleridge  entertained  the  most 
lively  feelings  for  Rickman. 

Those  who  have  any  acquaintance  with  Lamb's  life  and 
letters  will  remember  his  two  butts,  George  Dyer — '  G.  D.' 
or  '  George  I.,' — and  George  Burnett — •'  George  11.'  or  the 
'  Bishop.'  Rickman  was  the  friend  of  both,  and  his  corre- 
spondence gives  many  new  facts  about  them.  It  was  George 
Dyer  who  introduced  Rickman  to  Lamb,  and  who  procured 
him  the  editorship  of  the  Commercial,  Agricultural,  and 
Manufacturers'  Magazine.  The  Southey-Rickman  letters 
give  two  new  and  amusing  stories  of  his  relations  with 
Lamb.  One  relates  how  he  persuaded  a  friend  unasked  to 
buy  Lamb's  play  at  half-price,  and  gravely  handed  Is.  6d. 
to  Lamb,  regretting  he  could  do  so  little  for  his  friends  ; 
and  the  other  tells  how  the  Lambs  talked  him  into  love  with 
a  famous  blue-stocking.  Moreover,  in  this  correspondence 
there  are  preserved  three  original  letters  from  George  Dyer, 
from  whose  pen  no  private  letters  have  hitherto  been  known. 
The  first,  which  I  do  not  print,  settles  a  date  in  Lamb's  life. 
The  second  is  exceedingly  precious,  for  it  is  a  sequel  to 
Lamb's  exquisitely  humorous  letter  describing  Dyer's  rescue 
from  starvation.  The  third  is  recommendation  from  Dyer 
of  a  deserving  young  man  who  wished  for  copying  work,  his 
character  being  vouched  for  by  Dyer's  washerwoman. 
Rickman  found  the  man  to  be  an  arrant  rogue,  and  the 
incident  is  thoroughly  typical  of  him  whom  Lamb  called 
the  '  common  lyar  of  benevolence.' 

Rickman  enjoyed  and  appreciated  what  was  good  in 
Dyer,  but  his  feelings  towards  George  Burnett  were  more 
mixed.  Burnett's  life,  if  it  had  its  humorous  side,  was  a 
sad  chapter  of  failure,  which  has  never  been  properly  put 
together.  The  Rickman  correspondence  supplies  a  good 
deal  of  new  information,  which  I  collected  in  an  article  in 


8        LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

Blackwood's  Magazine  for  March  of  this  year.  The  scheme 
of  the  present  book  prevented  me  from  incorporating  this 
article  en  bloc,  but  no  essential  points  are  omitted,  though 
the  events  are  recounted  as  they  occurred  as  incidents 
in  Rickman's  life.  The  real  cause  of  Burnett's  failure  was 
his  indolent,  vain  character  ;  the  immediate  cause  was 
the  unsettlement  of  his  mind  by  his  meeting  Southey  at 
Balliol,  and  his  introduction  to  Coleridge.  Southey  always 
felt  the  responsibility,  and  I  am  able  to  give  some  new  and 
highly  interesting  extracts  from  Southey 's  letters,  which 
set  forth  his  views  on  the  conduct  of  his  unfortunate  friend. 
Rickman's  relations  with  Burnett  show  the  mixture  of 
harshness  and  benevolence  in  his  nature.  He  saw  the 
unmistakable  talent  and  the  weak  character  which  made 
it  useless.  Again  and  again  he  put  himself  out  to  find  work 
for  Burnett,  after  exclaiming  that  he  would  never  have 
any  more  to  do  with  him.  Whenever  '  George  n.'  showed 
the  slightest  tendency  to  reform,  he  could  count  on  Rick- 
man's assistance.  On  the  other  hand,  Rickman  never 
showed  any  tact  in  his  handling  of  that  neurotic  being. 
He  plainly  displayed  his  contempt,  he  wrote  him  letters 
which  Lamb  called  '  a  cruel  dose  of  yellow  gamboodge,' 
he  even  went  so  far  '  as  a  cosmopolite  '  as  to  wish  him  dead 
that  some  more  useful  being  might  consume  his  share  of 
sustenance.  The  amazing  story  of  Burnett's  commission 
as  a  surgeon  in  the  militia,  which  is  told  in  part  by  Mrs. 
Sandford,  can  now  be  followed  to  its  absurd  conclusion,  and 
in  this  connection  I  quote  in  full  Burnett's  three  original 
letters  which  Thomas  Poole  preserved.  It  is  just  a  hundred 
years  ago  since  Burnett,  the  author  of  two  quite  interesting 
books,  died  in  a  workhouse  infirmary,  and  I  am  glad,  if  only 
for  the  sake  of  elucidating  Lamb's  humorous  references 
to  him,  that  I  can  add  to  the  knowledge  of  his  career. 

Rickman's  friendships  with  these  men  and  others — Poole, 
Telford,  the  engineer,  and  the  Burneys — were  characterised 
by  a  certain  external  formality  which  strikes  rather  chill 
upon  the  modern  reader,  who  must  remember,  however,  that 
society  a  hundred  years  ago  was  more  patriarchal  and 


INTRODUCTION  9 

punctilious  than  it  is  to-day.  Yet  rigidity  was  natural  to 
the  man.  His  family  motto  was  '  Fortitude  in  Adversity,' 
and  perhaps  a  puritanical  fortitude  in  everything  would 
best  sum  up  his  character.  He  was  sturdily  unromantic. 
He  could  write  to  Southey  that  he  had  '  lately  imported  a 
wife,'  and  remonstrate  with  Poole  for  supposing  that  he 
married  for  love.  In  his  family  his  word  was  law,  and  even 
to  his  children  his  letters  were  rather  portentously  solemn. 
The  grave  homily  administered  to  his  daughter  Ann  on 
the  occasion  of  her  having  confessed  her  inability  to  play 
quadrille  music  at  a  children's  party  might  have  come  out 
of  a  Jane  Austen  novel.  His  taste  for  pleasure  was  not 
very  highly  developed.  When  the  Lambs  took  him  to 
Sadlers  Wells  he  slept,  and  his  only  recreation  consisted  in 
long  driving  tours  in  the  yellow  gig  which  Mrs.  Lefroy 
describes,  and  these  tours  were  planned  on  distinctly 
'  improving  '  lines.  He  had  a  hatred  of  show  and  affectation, 
which  led  him  to  avoid  '  dinner  party  intercourse,'  and 
deliberately  banish  the  terms  '  drawing  room  '  and  '  dining 
room  '  from  his  own  house.  A  little  litany  which  comes  at 
the  end  of  a  letter  to  Southey  gives  a  clue  to  some  of  his 
dislikes  :  '  From  all  novelists,  tourists,  anecdotists,  beauty- 
mongers,  selectors,  abbreviators,  et  id  genus  omne,  good 
Lord  deliver  us  !  And  also  from  overgrown  theatres,  which 
insure  bad  plays  and  bad  acting.'  The  beauties  of  Nature, 
he  thought,  were  morbidly  insisted  on  by  the  Lake 
poets  :  in  his  view  they  should  be  '  as  play  hours.'  But 
Rickman  was  not  in  the  least  crabbed.  '  You  know,'  he 
said,  '  I  am  in  the  habit  of  looking  on  the  white  side  of 
futurity  ' ;  and  again  :  '  The  wiser  economy  of  life  is  to  like 
as  much  as  possible,  and  to  dislike  as  little  as  possible.' 
Neither  was  he  a  domestic  tyrant,  and  his  excellent  letters 
on  Bertha  Southey  are  proof  that  he  had  a  fatherly  soul. 
His  home  life,  indeed,  was  undisturbedly  happy,  and  it  is 
a  pretty  picture  on  which  Mrs.  Lefroy  has  allowed  us  to  look. 
We  see  Rickman,  the  cares  of  office  cast  away,  sleeping  on 
his  grass  slope  at  Westminster,  with  his  children  around 
weaving  daisy  chains  and  itching  to  pull  papa's  pigtail ; 


10      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

we  can  imagine  his  garden  with  the  '  Hamboro'  grape '  and 
the  '  mound  to  bury  kittens  and  canaries  in  ' — if  indeed  we 
can  conceive  anything  so  pastoral  in  stately  Westminster. 
Mrs.  Lefroy  has  preserved  a  charming  memory  of  the  official 
'  church  parade '  for  Sunday  service  at  St.  Margaret's,  and 
has  drawn  a  portrait  of  her  father  in  his  tight  pantaloons 
with  '  very  pointed  toes  to  his  shoes,'  his  shirt  frill  '  very 
neatly  plaited,'  his  cravat  of  fine  white  nainsook,  and  his 
swallow-tail  coat.  In  early  days  at  Westminster,  Rickman's 
hair  was  curled  and  powdered  every  day ;  and  though  he 
abandoned  powder  when  the  fashion  died  out,  he  was  the 
last  of  the  clerks  to  wear  a  stock  and  knee-breeches  at  the 
Table  of  the  House. 

Considering  that  he  enjoyed  intimate  friendship  with 
men  whose  names  are  great  in  English  literature,  Rickman's 
own  want  of  literary  taste  is  a  little  surprising.  He  had 
small  appreciation  for  belles  lettres,  and  none  at  all  for 
poetry.  His  earliest  letter  to  Southey,  a  criticism  of  '  Joan 
of  Arc  '  from  the  point  of  view  of  antiquarian  accuracy, 
contains  the  remark  :  '  Poetry  has  its  use  and  its  place, 
and  like  some  known  superfluities  we  should  feel  awkward 
without  it.'  On  another  occasion  he  says  :  '  I  abjure  all 
my  little  aversion  to  poetry  in  deference  to  your  cogent 
reasons  ;  I  only  think  poetry  bad  in  a  man  who  may  be 
better  employed  :  a  toy  in  manhood.'  Yet  he  was  not 
without  some  critical  insight.  He  thought  Southey 's 
'  Madoc  '  bad,  and  told  him  so  ;  on  the  other  hand,  he  was 
enthusiastic  over  Lamb's  play,  '  John  Woodvil,'  and  offered 
to  lend  all  the  money  necessary  for  its  publication.  Of 
Wordsworth's  articles  in  the  Friend  he  said  :  '  It  seems 
to  me  that  Wordsworth  has  neither  fun  nor  common  sense 
in  him.'  In  spite  of  his  editorship  of  the  Commercial, 
Agricultural,  and  Manufacturers'  Magazine,  Rickman  found 
literary  composition  a  difficult  task.  He  could  not  em- 
broider, but  marshalled  his  facts  in  severe  order.  For 
that  reason  he  refused  to  become  a  regular  contributor  to 
the  Quarterly,  and  it  was  only  for  Southey's  benefit  that 
he  wrote  the  article  on  the  poor  law  which  appeared  in 


INTRODUCTION  11 

that  magazine.  In  this  case  and  in  the  case  of  the 
'  Colloquies  '  he  strictly  stipulated  that  Southey  should 
apply  the  file  without  compunction.  The  actual  matter 
of  his  writing  was  admirable,  and  more  than  once  Southey 
bestows  on  it  the  highest  praise,  but  what  was  wanting 
was  that  picturesque  vigour  of  expression  which  gives  so 
strong  a  flavour  to  his  letters. 

Rickman's  style  is  at  its  breeziest  when  he  writes  about 
politics,  a  subject  on  which  his  remarks  are  both  enter- 
taining and  extremely  interesting.  His  political  views 
were,  to  say  the  least,  well  defined.  He  was,  in  fact,  a 
strong  Tory.  But  he  was  neither  a  party  politician  nor 
a  landowning  squire  who  imbibed  his  politics  with  his 
mother's  milk.  He  had  been,  with  Southey,  a  revolu- 
tionary for  a  glorious  year  or  two,  but  a  study  of  economic 
and  social  subjects  settled  him  a  Tory — a  Tory,  if  I  may 
say  so,  of  the  '  Manchester  school,'  for  he  held  that  the  only 
safe  rule  was  individualism  or  '  selfishness,'  and  that  the 
Whigs  and  Reformers  erred  through  a  sentimental  desire 
to  be  benevolent,  a  '  mock-humanity.'  He  was  perfectly 
sincere  in  the  conviction  that,  owing  to  the  spread  of  Liberal 
ideas,  a  tremendous  and  devastating  revolution  was  about 
to  occur  in  England  at  any  time  before  the  Reform  Bill 
was  actually  passed,  and  so  distressed  was  he  on  more  than 
one  occasion  that  he  confessed  to  a  kind  of  melancolia  of  de- 
spair. But  it  is  just  his  intellectual  Toryism  which  makes 
his  political  letters  unique,  besides  the  fact  that  most 
of  the  contemporary  memoirs  are  Whig,  and  Colchester's 
diaries  end  before  the  Reform  Bill.  His  letters  are  an 
expression  of  the  point  of  view  of  an  extremely  intelligent 
Tory,  who  was  completely  acquainted  with  the  political 
events  of  his  day,  and  bound  by  no  party  allegiance.  They 
remind  us,  to  whom  the  Tory  politics  of  the  early  nine- 
teenth century  cannot  but  appear  hopelessly  reactionary, 
what  a  hard-headed  man  then  feared  from  the  Whigs,  and 
by  what  spirit  he  was  animated  in  his  hatred  for  their 
political  aims. 

Rickman's   Parliamentary  experience  was   longer  than 


12      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

that  which  falls  to  the  lot  of  most  members  ;  he  was  in  the 
service  of  the  House  of  Commons  for  thirty-eight  years. 
When  he  first  came  to  Palace  Yard  the  House  was  nearing 
the  end  of  its  most  brilliant  epoch.  Burke  was  dead,  but 
Pitt  and  Fox,  Sheridan  and  Grattan  were  still  there.  The 
brilliance  of  debates  was  diminished  under  the  long  Tory 
administration,  but  the  House  was  kept  from  stagnation 
by  the  unrest  in  the  country,  and  the  violent  agitation  of 
the  small  band  of  reformers,  led  by  Burdett,  Whitbread, 
and  (later)  Brougham,  who  raised  annually  the  questions 
of  Catholic  emancipation  and  Parliamentary  reform.  Of 
these  burning  questions  Rickman  saw  the  rise,  the  climax, 
and  the  settlement,  and  it  may  naturally  be  supposed  that 
his  accounts  of  the  debates  are  worth  reading.  I  do  not 
pretend  that  he  had  any  access  to  the  inner  sources  of 
political  knowledge.  His  contempt  for  politicians  was  too 
great  for  him  to  trouble  his  head  about  their  secrets.  '  One 
cannot  live  so  near  the  House  of  Commons,'  he  wrote, 
'  without  becoming  cynical  towards  all  who  figure  there.' 
His  judgment,  too,  was  often  at  fault.  He  was  singularly 
mistaken  about  Perceval's  ability  in  1807 :  he  saw  in 
Brougham  only  the  '  noisy  adventurer,'  in  Canning  the 
intriguer,  and  in  Wellington  '  little  more  of  the  statesman 
than  a  vulgar  appetite  for  power.'  He  was  over- ready  to 
believe  political  gossip  discreditable  to  the  other  side. 
Thus,  he  was  convinced  in  1801  that  Pitt  resigned  solely 
to  escape  impeachment,  and  that  Catholic  emancipation 
was  not  the  real  question  at  issue  ;  that  the  Duke  of  York's 
fear  of  impeachment  forced  the  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents 
on  the  King,  and  that  Grey's  resignation  after  the  second 
rejection  of  the  Reform  Bill  was  a  cleverly  stage-managed 
trick.  Nevertheless,  in  spite  of  his  prejudices  and  his 
credulity,  Rickman  is  a  valuable  witness.  Parliamentary 
officials  are  politely  supposed  to  have  no  political  opinions. 
It  is  amusing,  therefore,  to  imagine  the  Speaker's  Secretary, 
who  was  a  model  of  correctness,  putting  off  his  bag  and 
sword  to  write  to  Southey  or  Poole  that  Pitt  '  had  genius 
without  acquired  knowledge;  whence  his  affectation  of  infalli- 


INTRODUCTION  13 

bility  and  all  the  woes  of  Europe  ' ;  that '  Charley  Fox  eats 
his  former  opinions  daily,  and  even  ostentatiously,  showing 
himself  the  worst  man  but  the  better  Minister  of  a  corrupt 
Government,  where  three  people  in  four  must  be  rogues  and 
three  deeds  in  four  bad  '  ;  or  '  I  expected  Mr.  Perceval  to 
be  murdered,  but  I  had  expected  it  from  the  Burdetts  and 
other  vermin  rendered  infuriate  by  the  weekly  poison  they 
imbibe  from  sixteen  newspapers  emulous  in  violence  and 
mischief  '  ;  or,  after  a  joyful  account  of  the  Regent's  re- 
buff to  Grenville  and  Grey  in  1811,  'the  pangs  of  the 
M.  Chronicle  are  delicious.  Canting  villain  !  '  Still  more 
entertaining  is  it  to  think  of  Rickman  from  1814  onwards, 
sitting  staidly  at  the  Table  in  his  wig  and  gown,  courte- 
ously giving  his  attention  to  members  of  any  party  who 
required  his  advice  on  procedure,  entering  blameless 
minutes,  editing  questions,  pruning  motions  into  orderly 
shape,  and  all  the  while  mentally  fulminating  against 
those  whom  he  called  the  '  Whiggamores,'  or  contemptu- 
ously damning  the  Tories  for  their  want  of  backbone. 
Little  did  Brougham,  Canning,  Whitbread,  O'Connell, 
Peel,  or  Wellington  imagine,  if  in  the  course  of  a  full-dress 
second-reading  debate  their  eye  fell  for  a  moment  on  the 
peacefully  writing  Clerk  Assistant,  that  he  was  criticising 
them  as  bitterly  as  any  of  their  opponents,  recording 
Brougham's  '  deeply  infernal  toned  "  Hear  !  hear  !  "  ',  Peel's 
haughty  coldness,  or  Macaulay's  maiden  speech,  or  urging 
his  friend,  the  trenchant  reviewer  of  the  Quarterly,  to  open 
the  eyes  of  England  to  the  machinations  of  the  '  Mobocracy  ' 
backed  by  the  '  hell-hounds  of  the  Press.'  The  Roman 
Catholic  question  rilled  him  with  all  kinds  of  gloomy  fore- 
bodings, and  he  never  forgave  Wellington  for  his  oppor- 
tunism in  the  matter,  calling  it '  the  grossest  of  all  specimens 
of  impropriety  in  civil  government.'  But  the  political 
interest  of  Rickman's  correspondence  reaches  its  climax  at 
the  time  of  the  Reform  Bill  agitation.  His  feelings  were 
passionately  aroused,  and  he  called  to  Southey  to  make  a 
last  stand  with  him,  and  to  sound  the  bugle  for  all  true 
patriots.   Then  was  planned  the  writing  of  those  '  Colloquies  ' 


14      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

between  '  Montesinos  '  and  '  Metretes  ' — Southey  and 
Rickman — which  never  saw  the  light.  Rickman's  first 
suggested  title  for  the  book  was  '  Monarchy  or  Democracy,' 
and  the  motto  Ne  quid  detrimenti  respublica  capiat.  It 
was  to  supply  Southey  with  necessary  political  knowledge 
that  his  letters  on  the  Reform  debates  are  so  frequent  and 
full,  and  their  tone  may  be  judged  from  the  description  of 
Lord  John  Russell's  first  Reform  Bill  speech  :  '  The  backing 
speech  of  the  Tricolor  Donkey  Lord  was  truly  asinine.' 
What  strikes  the  reader  particularly  about  the  letters  at 
this  period  is  their  modernity.  With  a  few  changes  of 
names,  they  might  have  been  written  by  a  Unionist 
at  any  time  during  the  last  eighteen  months.  The  House 
of  Lords,  the  question  of  creating  peers,  an  Irish  party 
('  O'Connell's  squadron  of  Irish  Devils ')  that  boasted  of 
holding  the  balance  of  power — there  are  parallels  at  the 
moment  of  writing.1  Rickman's  vivacious  outcries  against 
the  '  Whiggamores,'  if  a  little  pathetic,  were  seriously  meant. 
This  is  proved  by  the  fact  that,  after  comforting  himself  in 
1833  that  '  in  our  Pandemonium  '  the  '  new  devils  '  were 
1  cuffing  and  scratching  the  Whig  Devils  beautifully,'  he 
practically  ceased  to  take  any  further  interest  in  politics. 
In  his  relations  to  political  events  and  persons  as  well  as 
in  his  relations  to  his  friends,  Rickman  shows  intensely 
human  qualities.  My  reason,  therefore,  for  including  so 
many  political  letters  has  been  that  they  are  not  only 
interesting  for  what  they  say,  but  illustrate,  often  most 
entertainingly,  a  certain  type  of  mind. 

I  suspect  that  the  uncompromising  nature  of  his  views 
was  responsible  in  part  for  the  small  amount  of  public 
recognition  which  Rickman  received  for  his  really  important 
statistical  work.  Yet  he  shunned  all  appearance  of  self- 
advertisement,  and  would  have  looked  with  suspicion  on 
officially  bestowed  honours.  Indeed,  it  is  to  be  noticed 
that  he  suspected  his  employment  on  the  population  returns 
to  be  meant  as  a  bribe.  But  Rickman's  sole  ambition  was 
to  be  of  utility,  and  in  that  aim  he  was  certainly  successful. 

1  May  1911. 


INTRODUCTION  15 

Even  the  industrious  Southey  marvelled  at  his  prodigious 
capacity  for  work. 

His  official  business  was  to  him  little  more  than  so  much 
routine,  but  he  was  never  lax  in  its  performance,  and  he 
was  always  ready  to  do  such  extra  work  as  came  in  his  way — 
the  indexing  of  Hatsell  and  of  the  Journals,  the  institution 
of  a  new  system  of  publishing  the  Votes  and  Proceedings, 
digesting  various  returns,  supplying  evidence  for  a  com- 
mittee, or  even  sending  in  a  secret  scheme  for  combating 
the  Radicals.  Till  his  death  he  remained  in  harness,  though 
he  certainly  wished  to  retire  in  1832,  and  complained  of 
intrigues  which  prevented  this.  His  work  on  the  three 
Commissions  for  building  the  Caledonian  Canal,  making 
roads,  and  building  churches  in  the  Highlands  was  in- 
valuable. He  was  Telford's  loyal  supporter  for  seventeen 
years  in  the  Caledonian  Canal  enterprise,  and  it  was  due  to 
him  that  Southey  wrote  for  it  his  three  inscriptions.  But 
the  only  subject  in  which  Rickman  truly  took  a  real  interest 
was  what  is  now  called  economics,  though  he  would  have 
hated  the  word,  having  the  utmost  contempt  for  the  political 
economists  of  his  day.  Social  science  was  his  study  from 
the  time  he  left  Oxford,  and  he  regarded  the  population 
returns  quite  rightly  as  giving  data  for  the  widest  political 
and  social  deductions,  though  he  was  a  little  too  reliant  on 
statistical  evidence  in  the  face  of  palpable  fact.  It  was 
a  pity  that  Rickman  had  no  opportunity  of  dealing  with 
the  poor  laws  of  this  country.  The  subject  was  one  on 
which  he  had  very  definite  views,  for  he  saw  their  great 
defects  (before  1834),  if  his  remedies  were  a  little  drastic. 
He  conceived  that  treating  poor  men  according  to  their 
deserts — bread  and  water  for  the  idlers — would  suffice  to 
abolish  the  poor  rates  and  introduce  good  character  instead. 
He  forgot,  perhaps,  that  many  of  the  rich  would  also  have 
deserved  bread  and  water.  He  believed  in  competition,  in 
unrestricted  manufactures,  and  laisser-faire  with  a  strong 
police.  And  yet  he  was  willing  enough  to  be  socialistically 
benevolent  for  women.  In  1800  he  started  as  a  hobby  a 
little  speculation  on  the  subject  of  beguinages  in  England, 


16      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

which  he  took  up  again  in  later  life,  and  one  of  his  letters 
gives  a  sketch  of  a  model  female  institution — a  model  which 
is  not  so  far  from  reality  now.  Rickman,  in  fact,  useful  as  he 
was  to  his  country,  might  have  been  far  more  useful,  if  only 
governments  then  had  known,  as  they  do  now,  how  to  use 
their  permanent  officials. 

Rickman,  at  heart,  was  as  little  reactionary  as  he  was 
a  tyrant.  His  ideal  state  would  have  been  a  benevolent 
despotism,  and  in  his  relations  with  others  he  was  inclined 
to  act  the  benevolent  despot  himself.  Save,  perhaps,  in 
his  extreme  respect  for  intellectual  knowledge,  he  was  a 
typical  John  Bull.  I  am  saved  from  any  further  effort  to 
sum  up  his  character  by  being  able  to  quote,  in  conclusion 
of  these  preliminary  remarks,  a  letter  written  by  his  friend, 
the  historian  Sharon  Turner,  for  inclusion  in  his  son's 
memoir. 

1 20  Sept.  1840. 

'  My  impression,  whenever  I  saw  your  father,  was, 
that  he  had  a  strong  and  resolute  mind,  very  discursive, 
full  of  varied  but  promiscuous  knowledge,  ready  to  bring 
it  out  whenever  called  upon,  and  always  pleased  to  have  a 
reason  to  do  so,  and  to  talk  with  those  who  would  be  inter- 
ested to  hear  him  ;  whoever  did  so,  could  not  fail  to  be  both 
gratified  and  informed.  For  he  had  a  large  store  of  facts 
and  thoughts,  and  frequently  viewed  things  in  an  original 
though  sometimes  also  in  a  peculiar  manner.  He  was  fond 
of  intellectual  labour  as  an  exercise  of  the  mind  as  well  as 
for  the  prosecution  of  the  object  he  undertook  ;  and  what- 
ever he  directed  his  attention  to,  he  pursued  with  a  zeal 
and  perseverance,  and  with  an  almost  insensibility  of  fatigue 
that  can  seldom  be  paralleled.  .  .  .  He  thought  little  of 
those  who  pursued  any  object  with  indolence  and  indifference 
and  believed  that  mental  activity  always  did  good  to  the 
health,  and  that  the  evils  ascribed  to  it  arose  from  other 
causes. 

'  He  was  peculiarly  a  man  of  facts  and  realities,  and 
well  adapted  to  all  things  that  required  close  attention, 


INTRODUCTION  17 

investigation,  and  continued  mental  labour.  He  was  very 
anxious  never  to  be  deceived  himself,  and  never  to  deceive 
others.  He  had  not  a  philosophical  cast  of  mind,  nor  did 
he  view  his  subjects  with  that  course  and  style  of  thought. 
But  he  saw  his  main  points  quickly  and  adhered  tenaciously 
to  them,  and  always  threw  light  upon  them. 

'  I  would  not  call  him  a  man  of  genius,  but  of  a  powerful 
and  solid  mind — quick,  ardent,  penetrating,  self-confident 
from  experienced  success  in  what  he  undertook,  and  not 
willing  to  yield  his  own  opinions  to  the  opposing  conclusions 
of  others — he  was  therefore  rather  peremptory,  both  from 
the  strength  of  his  own  convictions,  and  his  earnest  desire 
that  what  he  deemed  right  should  be  thought  or  deemed 
so  by  others  :  but  it  was  always  in  good  humour.  He  had 
a  very  straightforward,  upright,  and  honest-meaning  mind, 
with  nothing  of  the  base  or  shabby  in  it.  I  never  saw  any- 
thing like  trick  or  subterfuge,  or  fraud,  or  hypocrisy  in  him  : 
nor  could  he  endure  these  in  any  other.  He  liked  to  skir- 
mish in  conversation,  and  so  often  attacked  what  he  thought 
wrong  in  all  parties,  and  in  their  leaders,  that  it  was  not 
easy  to  know  what  his  settled  opinions  were  on  many  of 
our  political  questions.  He  was  at  times  a  little  impatient 
and  stern  ;  but  whatever  his  manner  might  be,  he  was 
always  a  kind-hearted  and  worthy  man — one  of  steady, 
moral  conduct — and  desirous  that  all  should  be  so.  .  .  .' 

[Note. — For  the  benefit  of  those — and  they  are  many — who 
take  a  particular  interest  in  the  smallest  fact  concerning  Charles 
Lamb,  I  summarise  here  the  new  points  which  the  Rickman 
correspondence  brings  to  light. 

(1)  George  Dyer's  first  letter  in  1801  fixes  the  approximate 
date  of  Lamb's  removal  from  Pentonville  to  Southampton 
Buildings  (p.  34). 

(2)  Rickman's  letter  to  Southey  enclosing  Dyer's  second 
letter  of  1801  fixes  within  a  few  days  the  date  of  Lamb's  long 
letter  to  Rickman  describing  Dyer's  rescue  from  starvation. 
Mr.  E.  V.  Lucas  heads  this  letter  '  ?  November.'  Dyer's  letter, 
too,  corroborates  Lamb's  account  (pp.  56-60). 

(3)  A  short  undated  letter  from  Lamb  to  Rickman,  printed  by 


18      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

Canon  Ainger  after  one  on  November  24, 1801,  is  shown  to  belong 
to  November  9  or  10  (p.  60). 

(4)  The  allusion  in  Lamb's  letter  to  Rickman  of  July  16,  1803, 
where  he  refers  to  a  '  gentle  ghost '  who  wishes  to  return,  has 
mystified  all  commentators.  I  think  its  date,  together  with  the 
contents  of  letters  from  Southey  and  Rickman,  proves  it  conclus- 
ively to  refer  to  a  kind  of  circular  sent  by  George  Burnett  to  his 
friends,  announcing  his  return  to  the  paths  of  reason,  and  ex- 
pressing regret  for  former  aberrations  together  with  a  desire  for 
work.  This  confirms  Mr.  E.  V.  Lucas  in  a  conjecture  which  he 
seems  to  have  abandoned  (p.  90). 

(5)  Lamb  stayed  with  Rickman  in  1803  during  one  of  Mary 
Lamb's  attacks  of  insanity  (p.  87). 

(6)  On  July  25, 1829,  Lamb  wrote  to  Bernard  Barton  describing 
a  visit  paid,  during  a  recent  attack  of  Mary  Lamb's,  to  a  friend  in 
London,  '  one  of  the  individuals  of  my  old  long  knot  of  friends, 
card-players,  pleasant  companions — that  have  tumbled  to  pieces 
into  dust  and  other  things.'  The  identity  of  this  friend  has 
hitherto  been  unknown,  but  Rickman's  letter  to  Southey  of 
July  14,  1829,  proves  him  to  have  been  Lamb's  entertainer 
(p.  247). 

(7)  Three  letters  from  Coleridge  refer  to  Lamb  (pp.  105,  106, 
157),  the  last  giving  a  particularly  interesting  account  of  Lamb's 
convivialities. 

(8)  Two  new  stories  of  Lamb's  connection  with  George  Dyer 
occur  in  the  Rickman  correspondence  with  Southey  (pp.  76,  93, 
94). 

(9)  Lamb's  estimate  of  Southey's  and  Coleridge's  responsi- 
bility for  Burnett's  aberrations  is  quoted  by  Rickman  (p.  85). 

(10)  Mrs.  Lefroy  in  her  reminiscences  gives  a  portrait  of  the 
Lambs  at  Rickman's  house  (p.  128). 

(11)  I  am  able  to  quote  Rickman's  and  Southey's  interesting 
comments  on  Lamb's  death  (p.  313).] 


CHAPTER   I 

The  Rickman  family — Early  life  of  John  Rickman — His  meeting  with 
Southey — Beguinages — Departure  from  Christchurch. 

From  the  genealogical  researches  made  by  John  Rickman's 
father,  the  Rev.  Thomas  Rickman,  it  appears  that  the 
family  of  Rickman,  Rykeman  or  Richman,  originated  in 
Somersetshire,  for  the  arms — or,  three  piles  azure,  three  bars 
gules,  over  all  a  stag  trippant ;  with  a  crest,  a  stag's  head 
couped  proper — were  originally  granted  to  Rickman  of 
Somersetshire.  The  family  seems  to  have  overflowed  first 
into  Dorsetshire,  where  John  Ritcheman  is  known  to  have 
been  rector  of  Porton  in  1380,  and  members  of  the  family 
represented  Lyme  in  Parliament  in  the  reigns  of  Henry  iv. 
and  Henry  v.  The  Rickmans  of  Hampshire,  from  whom 
John  Rickman  more  immediately  sprang,  had  the  same 
arms  and  a  slightly  different  crest  with  the  motto, '  Fortitude 
in  Adversity.'  The  earliest  mention  of  the  family  is  in 
the  parish  register  of  Wardleham,  where  the  baptism  of 
John  Rickman,  son  of  Richard  Rickman  and  Isabel  his  wife, 
is  recorded  in  1542.  A  William  Rickman  who  lived  at 
Marchwood  in  Eling  appears  in  1556  among  the  subscribers 
to  the  defence  of  the  country  against  the  Spanish  Armada. 
In  1623  a  Richard  Rickman  was  married  at  Eling  to  Elizabeth 
Stubbs,  and  their  son  William  was  baptised  in  1627.  The 
son  of  this  William,  James  Rickman,  was  father  of  three  sons, 
William,  John,  and  James,  the  first  of  whom  was  born  in 
1701  at  Milford.  John  Rickman,  the  subject  of  this  book, 
was  his  grandson. 

There  is  a  letter  by  John  Rickman,  written  to  his  eldest 
daughter,  which  gives  an  interesting  account  of  his  near 
ancestors.    This  long  letter,  which  occupies  forty-two  quarto 


20      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

pages,  was  written  purely  as  a  warning  to  his  younger 
daughter  not  to  embark  upon  rash  expenditure  in  her  newly 
married  life.  This  lesson  in  economy — so  typical  of  its 
writer's  formal  mind — can  only  be  quoted  in  extract.  It 
is  dated  '  8  December,  1836,'  and  after  the  exordium  con- 
tinues thus  : — 

'  The  grandfather  of  my  grandfather  (a  portrait  of 
which  last  we  have)  was  a  yeoman  of  small  property,  50 
or  60  acres,  on  the  coast  of  Hampshire,  at  Hordwell  in 
the  parish  of  Milford  near  Lymington,  and  possessor  of  a 
windmill  there.  He  being  a  patriot,  and  no  Popery  man, 
left  his  plough  and  his  mill  and  joined  the  army  of  the  Duke 
of  Monmouth  which  was  defeated  at  Sedgmoor  in  the  year 
1685.  He  escaped  the  slaughter  of  the  day  and  the  ven- 
geance of  Judge  Jefferies,  and  returned  home  to  tell  of  his 
adventures,  to  boast  of  them  (no  doubt)  after  the  triumph 
of  Ms  party  at  the  Revolution  in  1688.  The  son  of  the 
miller  who  succeeded  to  the  landed  property  had  three  sons 
of  whom  my  grandfather  W.  R.  was  the  eldest,  and  being  a 
studious  lad  of  good  talents  was  placed  in  the  country  house 
of  Mr.  Missing,  a  wealthy  merchant  at  Portsmouth,  who 
dying  left  a  son  remarkably  unfit  for  business,  which  there- 
fore devolved  on  my  grandfather  upon  his  marriage  in  the 
year  1729  with  the  daughter  of  his  former  employer.  .  .  . 

'  In  the  year  1739,  a  war  commenced  between  England 
and  Spain,  and  my  grandfather  (through  Portsmouth 
Borough  influence,  I  suppose)  obtained  the  contract  for 
supply  of  provisions  to  the  Spanish  prisoners  of  war  con- 
fined in  Porchester  Castle.  His  business  was  very  lucrative, 
and  as  he  had  become  a  proficient  in  the  Spanish  language, 
indeed  well  read  in  Spanish  literature,  he  had  opportunity 
of  being  attentive  to  Don  Ulloa,1  the  Spanish  officer  em- 
ployed in  mensuration  of  a  degree  of  longitude  near  the 
equator  in  Spanish  America,  who  in  his  narrative  makes 
grateful  mention  of  his  English  friend,  Mr.  Rickman.' 

1  Admiral  Ulloa  was  captured  in  1745.  The  reference  is  in  Book  ix. 
ch.  ix.  of  his  Narrative  of  a  Voyage  to  S.  America,  and  speaks  of  William 
Rickman's  great  care  for  the  prisoners'  comfort. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      21 

William  Rickman  thus  became  a  prosperous  man.  He 
made  considerable  purchases  of  land,  was  made  a  Justice  of 
the  Peace,  in  which  office  he  distinguished  himself  in  bring- 
ing a  gang  of  murderers  and  smugglers  to  book  for  their 
crimes,  and  in  1747  served  as  Sheriff  for  the  county.  This 
was  the  summit  of  his  prosperity.  The  Spanish  war  merged 
into  a  French  war,  and  another  merchant  was  given  the 
contract  to  feed  the  French  prisoners.  William  Rickman 
was  practically  superseded,  and  his  income  fell  consider- 
ably. Further,  he  had  become  surety  for  his  brother,  a 
Custom  House  collector,  in  £8000,  a  sum  which  he  forfeited 
on  his  rascally  relative's  absconding.  A  nephew  also  lost 
him  £1500  on  another  suretyship.  William  Rickman's 
affairs  thus  fell  into  decay,  so  that  when  he  died  in  1764  he 
had  sold  all  his  landed  property. 

His  son,  Thomas  Rickman,  was  at  this  time  on  the 
verge  of  entering  Holy  Orders.  In  1766  he  became  vicar 
of  Newburn  in  Northumberland.  He  married  a  Miss 
Beaumont  in  1770,  of  which  marriage  John  Rickman,  born 
in  1771.  was  the  only  son,  the  two  other  children  being 
daughters.  In  1776,  when  the  taxes  caused  by  the  American 
war  began  to  pinch,  he  was  offered  an  exchange  and  second 
benefice  at  Compton,  near  Winchester,  which  he  exchanged 
in  1780  for  the  livings  of  Ash,  near  Farnham  in  Hampshire, 
and  Stourpaine  in  Dorset,  which  he  held  till  his  death  in 
1809.  In  1796,  however,  being  no  longer  able  to  perform 
divine  service,  he  retired  to  Christchurch.  '  Soon  after  this,' 
says  Rickman  in  the  same  letter  as  I  have  quoted  above, 
'  the  Income  Tax  was  imposed,  and  I  had  some  prospect  of 
employment  in  London.  The  salary  of  a  curate  at  Ash 
was  a  heavy  burden  on  my  father's  income,  and  the  price 
of  provisions  was  enormous,  so  that  my  father  upon  my 
leaving  the  family  broke  up  his  little  establishment,  and 
went  to  reside  between  Lymington  and  Christchurch 
with  some  of  his  relations.  .  .  .  This  continued  till  1803, 
when  upon  my  being  well  established  in  Palace  Yard  my 
father  again  ventured  on  housekeeping  till  he  died  in  1809.' 

John    Rickman    himself    was    educated    at    Guildford 


22      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

Grammar  School  from  1781  to  1788,  when  he  went  to 
Magdalen  Hall,  and  thence  to  Lincoln  College,  Oxford. 
No  allusion  is  ever  made  by  Rickman  to  his  boyhood, 
except  when  he  mentions  that  he  suffered  several  years' 
reasonable  misery  through  a  mistake  in  deciding  upon  a 
profession.1  Probably  he  had  had  early  ideas  of  entering 
the  Church,  which  residence  at  Oxford  had  dissipated. 
After  taking  his  degree  in  1792  or  1793,  Rickman  seems  to 
have  remained  at  Christchurch  reading  the  books  in  the 
library  left  by  his  grandfather,  especially  those  upon 
economic  subjects,  thus  laying  in  the  wide  stock  of  know- 
ledge which  stood  him  in  such  good  stead  later  in  his  career. 
The  recollections  of  Mrs.  Lefroy  (Rickman's  elder  daughter 
Ann)  mention  that  Rickman  used  to  act  as  tutor  in  the 
vacations  to  the  son  of  a  very  rich  man  named  Clark, 
whose  daughter  became  Marchioness  of  Ormond.  Mr. 
Clark  offered  Rickman  a  large  living  in  Kent  if  he  would 
take  Holy  Orders,  but  he  refused.  He  seems  to  have  had 
an  attachment,  not  wholly  unreturned,  for  Miss  Clark, 
who  remained  a  close  friend  of  his  throughout  her  life. 
On  her  death  in  1818  he  was  made  her  executor,  and  received 
a  legacy  of  £7000. 

The  first  event  of  any  note  in  Rickman's  life  was  his 
acquaintance  with  Robert  Southey,  the  future  Poet 
Laureate.  In  the  summer  of  1797  Southey  and  his  wife 
took  lodgings  at  Burton,  near  Christchurch,  and  it  was  not 
long  before  they  met  John  Rickman.  In  a  letter  from 
Southey  to  Cottle,  the  publisher,  dated  June  18,  1797,2  he 
speaks  of  going  down  Christchurch  harbour  in  Rickman's 
boat,  and  calls  his  new  friend  '  a  sensible  young  man,  of 
rough  but  mild  manners,  and  very  seditious.'  In  a  note 
Cottle  says  :  '  On  visiting  Southey  at  Christchurch,  he 
introduced  me  to  the  Mr.  Rickman,  whom  I  found  sensible 
enough,  blunt  enough,  and  seditious  enough ;  that  is, 
simply     anti-ministerial.'      Their    dislike    of    Pitt's    war 

1  In  a  letter  to  Southey  of  September  23,  1817,  giving  advice  as  to  the 
profession  which  Derwent  Coleridge  should  adopt. 

2  Cottle,  Reminiscences  of  Southey  and  Coleridge,  p.  214. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      23 

policy  and  their  desire  to  ameliorate  society — Southey  had 
not  long  got  over  the  scheme  of  Pantisocracy — soon  bound 
these  two  friends  with  links  of  mutual  respect  and  esteem, 
and  the  friendship,  however  restrained  was  its  expression, 
ripened  into  a  warm  and  lifelong  affection. 

The  first  letter  of  their  correspondence  is  from  Rickman, 
dated  November  13,  1798.  It  was  written  to  thank  Southey 
for  sending  a  new  edition  of  his  Joan  of  Arc,  and  contains 
some  detailed  criticisms  of  that  poem,  chiefly  on  historical 
matters  of  fact.  Rickman  corrects  Southey  on  such  points 
as  the  date  when  the  fife  was  introduced  as  military  music 
and  the  material  of  which  cannons  were  first  made.  There 
is  then  a  gap  for  more  than  a  year,  and  the  next  letter,  also 
from  Rickman,  on  January  4,  1800,  contains  a  proposi- 
tion that  Southey  shall  devote  his  verse  to  some  definitely 
utilitarian  object. 

'  Poetry  has  its  use  and  its  place,  and  like  some 
known  superfluities  we  should  feel  awkward  without  it. 
But  when  I  have  sometimes  considered  with  some  surprise 
the  facility  with  which  you  compose  verse,  I  have  always 
wished  to  see  that  facility  exerted  to  some  solid  purpose 
in  prose.  The  objects  I  propose  for  your  investigation 
are  therefore  :  the  employment,  and  consequent  ameliora- 
tion, of  womankind,  the  consequences  on  the  welfare  of 
society,  and  some  illustration  of  the  possibility  of  these 
things.  You  think  it  too  good  an  alteration  to  be  expected 
— and  so  do  I,  from  virtue  :  but  if  the  vanity  of  leading 
women  could  be  interested,  it  might  become  fashionable 
to  promote  certain  establishments  to  this  purpose,  and 
then  it  might  go  down.' 

Rickman's  purpose,  in  fact,  was  to  urge  the  establish- 
ment of  beguinages  on  the  model  of  those  in  the  Netherlands. 
He  promises  in  this  letter  to  furnish  any  dry  deductions 
on  the  head  of  political  economy.     He  continues  : — 

'  You  like  women  better  than  I  do  ;  therefore  I  think 
it  likely  that  you  may  take  as  much  trouble  to  benefit  the 


24      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

sex,  as  I  to  benefit  the  community  by  this  means.  For 
all  that  I  have  been  in  love  these  ten  years,  not  enough  to 
put  me  beside  calculation,  but  with  a  fixed  and  unaltered 
preference.' 

It  was  the  secret  of  Rickman's  character  that  no  emotion 
or  affection  ever  put  him  '  beside  calculation.'  This  letter 
contains  another  personal  touch  in  the  words  :  '  I  begin  to 
be  almost  tired  of  staying  in  this  obscure  place  so  long. 
I  imagine  I  was  born  for  better  purpose  than  to  vegetate 
at  Christchurch.'  This  contradicts  his  own  statement,  in 
the  letter  to  his  daughter  quoted  above,  that  he  went  to 
London  in  1799.  The  first  letter  to  Southey  mentions  a 
visit  to  London,  but  it  is  clear  from  this  passage  that  Rick- 
man  had  no  occupation  in  London  at  the  beginning  of  1800. 

Southey  answered  Rickman's  letter  with  great  interest  on 
January  9,  urging  him  to  undertake  the  task  himself,  and 
pleading  the  unsuitability  of  his  own  style  to  methodical 
deduction  and  his  prospective  departure,  for  health's  sake, 
to  some  other  climate  as  obstacles  to  his  own  performance  of 
it.  He  ended  by  inviting  Rickman  to  stay  with  him  at 
Bristol.  Rickman  replied  that  his  own  style  was  too  severe 
to  please  the  public,  and  supplied  further  information  upon 
the  subject,  touching  upon  various  other  matters  in  the 
course  of  a  long  letter.  Southey  then  consented  to  under- 
take the  work  ;  his  and  Rickman's  next  letters  are  given 
up  to  a  discussion  of  the  position  of  women  in  various 
nations.  On  February  17  Rickman  announced  his  probable 
arrival  at  Bristol  in  the  following  week,  requesting  Southey 
to  engage  him  lodgings  near  the  harbour,  that  he  might  also 
observe  the  tides — a  subject  in  which  he  took  great  interest. 
This  letter  contains  an  early  instance  of  Rickman's  violent 
political  views  : — 

'  I  expect  peace  soon,  at  least  to  all  the  world  except 
England  ;  and  it  is  better  for  us  to  fight  on  till  slow  indig- 
nation shall  finish  Pitt  and  the  war  together.  I  have 
laughed  at  Lord  Castlereagh's  panegyric  on  the  compre- 
hensive mind  of  this  sorry  drunkard,  who  in  16  years  has 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  HICKMAN      25 

produced  no  measure  of  eternal  utility — the  paltry  resources 
of  immediate  rapacity  are  dignified  with  the  name  of  finance  ; 
tins  methodised  pillage  has  stamped  him  a  great  man 
among  the  vulgar.' 

Southey  looked  forward  to  Hickman's  visit  with  no  little 
enthusiasm,  as  is  proved  in  his  letter  of  February  18,  1800, 
to  John  May  describing  the  proposed  scheme,  calling  Rick- 
man  '  a  man  of  uncommon  talents  and  knowledge,'  and 
saying  that  he  himself  would  be  '  little  more  than  mason 
under  the  master  architect.' 1  Rickman,  having  sent  his 
box  by  coach,  arrived  on  foot  from  Christchurch,  and  stayed 
till  the  end  of  March  at  Bristol,  where  he  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  Humphry  Davy,  who  was  then  experimenting  at 
the  Pneumatic  Institute.  It  is  impossible  to  say  what 
progress  was  made  with  the  beguinage  scheme,  for  Southey 
was  forced  by  continued  ill-health  to  set  out  for  Portugal 
in  April.  The  project  therefore  dropped,  but,  as  we  shall 
see,  it  was  revived  twenty  years  later.  When  Southey 
left  to  join  his  vessel  at  Falmouth,  Rickman  went  to  London 
to  take  up  his  abode.  It  was  for  him  the  beginning  of  a 
wider  life,  the  life  of  utility  for  which  he  always  craved. 
This  fresh  start  will  be  better  left  to  a  separate  chapter. 

1  Southey 's  Life  and  Correspondence,  ii.  51. 


CHAPTER   II 


1800 


Rickman  in  London — George  Dyer — The  Magazine — Lamb's  •  pleasant 
hand  ' — Southey's  Thalaba — Dyer's  preface — The  first  Population  Act 
— Rickman  and  the  census. 

In  April  1800,  before  Southey  had  left  Falmouth,  Rickman 
had  settled  in  London.  It  is  not  possible  to  determine 
precisely  what  his  prospects  of  literary  employment  were, 
but  from  hints  in  his  letters  it  is  evident  that  Southey  had 
recommended  him  to  the  editor  of  the  Critical  Review,  that 
he  might  succeed  to  the  place  of  reviewer  of  poetry  vacated 
by  Southey,  and  that  he  had  given  him  a  letter  of  intro- 
duction to  George  Dyer,  Lamb's  immortal  G.  D.,1  who  was 
at  this  time  pursuing  a  literary  career  in  Clifford's  Inn. 
Dyer,  whom  Hazlitt  called  '  one  of  God  Almighty's  gentle- 
men,' in  spite  of  his  slovenliness,  absent-mindedness,  and 
his  execrable  taste  in  poetry,  was  a  most  constant  and  warm- 
hearted friend  to  men  of  letters.  Southey  could  have  re- 
commended Rickman  to  no  better  person,  and  it  is  pleasant 
to  notice  that  Dyer  and  Rickman  became  firm  friends. 
This  friendship  has  preserved  to  us  three  of  Dyer's  private 
letters — no  others  are  known — and  has  furnished  a  few  more 
facts  in  the  life  of  the  genial  G.  D.  Rickman 's  first  letter 
to  Southey  from  London  mentions  their  meeting  : — 

'  London,  Apr.  ISth,  1800. 

'  My  Dear  Sir, — Having  called  on  Mr.  Dyer  on  Thursday 
he  appointed  this  morning  (Saturday)  for  the  proposed 

1  See  Lamb's  Essays, '  Oxford  in  the  Vacation  '  and  '  Amicus  Redivivus,' 
also  his  earlier  letters.  Mr.  E.  V.  Lucas  gives  a  very  good  account  of 
Dyer  in  his  Life  of  Charles  Lamb,  ch.  xiv. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      27 

inspection  of  your  books.  [Here  follow  details  of  the 
books.]  G.  Dyer  is  a  great  curiosity  ;  his  room  more  so  ; 
and  I  was  witness  to  the  regular  apologies  he  makes  to  every 
visitor  on  its  unusual  disorder.  Their  answers  are  as  regular, 
that  they  never  saw  it  otherwise.  He  is  very  busy  printing 
some  poetry.  He  read  me  some  from  the  manuscript : 
whence  he  seems  no  unhappy  forger  of  the  Spenserian  style. 
He  received  me  with  the  highest  civility,  and  professes 
great  regard  for  you.  .  .  . — I  remain  your  obliged  Servant, 

'John  Rickman.' 

In  spite  of  their  warm  friendship  Rickman's  style  in 
addressing  Southey  was,  in  accordance  with  his  character, 
most  formal.  The  formality  softened  in  the  course  of  years 
to  '  My  dear  S.'  and  a  '  God  bless  you,  my  dear  S.  Yrs. 
J.  R.',  but  in  all  letters,  even  to  his  family,  he  found  it 
difficult  to  express  affection  in  words.  The  next  letter 
shows  that  George  Dyer  was  able  to  find  Rickman  employ- 
ment without  delay. 

'  London,  Apr.  18th,  1800. 
'  My  dear  Sir, — As  I  have  indirect  intelligence  that  you 
could  not  reach  Falmouth  sooner  than  the  15th  I  venture 
to  direct  another  letter  to  your  name  there,  supposing  from 
the  S.W.  winds  that  you  are  not  yet  put  to  sea.  The  letter 
you  found  waiting  at  Falmouth  was  a  hurried  one,  and  you 
may  consider  this  as  a  supplement.  I  learnt  at  the  India- 
house  that  Mr.  Coleridge  has  taken  a  flight  northward  ;  to 
Cumberland  I  think.  By  this  I  suppose  his  German  plays 
are  completed,  though  I  have  not  seen  them.  Cottle 1 
cannot  be  more  busy  with  Alfred  at  Bristol  than  G.  Dyer 
at  present  is  about  a  publication.  He  has  promised  all  his 
friends,  and  the  public,  that  an  octavo  of  poems  shall  be 

1  Amos  Cottle,  brother  of  Joseph  Cottle,  the  Bristol  publisher,  who  first 
published  the  poems  of  Coleridge  and  Southey.  The  poem  '  Alfred  '  was 
exceedingly  dull.  Its  author  died  shortly  after  its  publication,  and  there 
is  a  very  humorous  letter  from  Lamb  to  Coleridge  of  October  9,  1800, 
describing  his  visit  of  condolence  to  Joseph  Cottle. 


28      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

ready  for  delivery  on  the  first  of  May.  The  copy  is  as  yet  very 
imperfect,  and  the  printing  not  commenced.  But  I  suppose 
every  body  knows  him  well  enough,  to  know  that  punctu- 
ality and  method  are  not  among  his  virtues,  and  the  "  Sad 
dog  "  (as  he  calls  himself)  will  be  pardoned.  He  has  been 
very  attentive  to  my  interest,  as  he  has  offered  to  my 
acceptance,  the  task  of  conducting  a  Magazine.  As  its 
proprietor  Griffiths  seems  no  haughty  bookseller,  and  is  in 
much  present  distress,  I  shall  do  what  I  can  for  him  for  this 
month  or  two  ;  and  afterwards  consider  more  maturely 
about  the  business.  The  circumstances  of  this  publication 
stand  thus  :  the  title  is  promising — The  Commercial  and 
Agricultural  Magazine.  It  has  reached  No.  8  with  tolerable, 
not  splendid  success.  Indeed  it  has  not  deserved  much, 
and  the  bundle  of  papers  the  Editor  has  sent  me  for  selection 
are  very  pitiful.  It  is  printed  with  about  the  same  letter- 
press as  a  Review.  He  offers  2|  guineas  p.  sheet,  and  2 
guineas  p.  month  for  arrangement  and  correction.  The  last 
sum  seems  very  low.  He  excuses  the  offer  by  the  infant 
state  and  small  returns  of  the  Magazine.  I  suppose  it  may 
be  possible  for  me  to  manage  this  concern  with  success  ;  as 
the  usual  subjects  are  things  on  which  I  have  been  accus- 
tomed to  think  often.  Luckily  I  have  some  short  essays 
(which  you  have  not  seen)  which  may  help  out  the  present 
dearth  of  matter,  and  the  editor  seems  rather  fearfull  that 
I  should  chuse  to  contribute  too  much  than  too  little  for 
the  future.  He  seems  to  have  been  ill-used  in  this  respect 
by  his  last  conductor,  who  thereby  wished  to  get  the  power 
of  the  property  into  his  own  hands — thereby  also  disgusting 
the  best  correspondents. 

'  In  my  opinion  to  write  anonymously  is  small  trouble, 
because  it  requires  no  fastidious  correction  ;  and  I  am 
persuaded  I  write  better  speedily,  than  maturely.  But  the 
conduct  of  a  publication  infers  a  kind  of  conscious,  irksome 
responsibility,  which  I  do  not  like  so  well :  and  I  should 
not  meddle  with  this,  but  from  a  sincere  wish  to  save  a 
publication  from  sinking,  whose  future  repute  may  possibly 
collect  a  useful  body  of  information.    I  am  also  somewhat 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      29 

biassed  towards  an  acceptance  of  the  task  that  I  mayjnot 
seem  to  undervalue  the  efforts  of  so  good  a  man  as  G.  D. 

'  He  wishes  of  all  things  he  could  get  me  some  employ- 
ment in  the  reviews  :  I  did  not  tell  him,  I  had  any  prospect 
of  that  sort,  though  I  suppose  your  intended  transfer  will 
be  accepted  by  S.  Hamilton,1  if  you  have  not  failed  to 
promise  a  renewal  of  communication  at  your  return.  I  do 
not  know  enough  of  the  history  of  poetry  to  execute  the 
business  very  well — the  general  knowledge  of  good  and  evil 
is  scarcely  stock  enough  for  a  reviewer's  observations. 
However  if  it  be  offered,  I  must  dash  through  thick  and  thin 
— depending  chiefly  on  your  opinion  (I  fear  me  a  partial  one) 
that  the  performance  will  not  be  below  par.  Thus  have  I 
given  you  a  faithful  history  of  the  proffered  employ  which 
I  indirectly  owe  to  your  civility.  I  conjecture  that  a 
constrained  abode  at  Falmouth  will  be  far  from  adverse 
to  the  completion  of  Thalaba  :  I  have  some  curiosity  to 
watch  the  public  taste  on  that  intended  innovation  in  the 
Commonwealth  of  Poesy.   .    .   . 

4  33  Southampton  Buildings,  Holborn.' 


Southey  arrived  at  Lisbon  on  May  1,  and  remained  there 
till  the  middle  of  1801.  His  letters  to  Rickman  during  that 
period  are  chiefly  descriptions  of  the  state  of  Portugal.  As 
three  of  them  have  been  published  in  Southey's  corre- 
spondence, it  is  unnecessary  further  to  allude  to  them. 
Southey  was  finishing  his  poem  '  Thalaba,'  and  Rickman 
had  undertaken  to  negotiate  for  its  sale  and  publication  in 
England.     To  this  we  shall  have  several  allusions. 

Rickman  continued  to  edit  the  Commercial,  Agricultural, 
and  Manufacturers''  Magazine  till  he  went  to  Ireland.  In  the 
appendix  to  the  memoir  by  his  son  a  list  of  the  articles  con- 
tributed by  him  is  given.  They  range  over  many  economic 
subjects — bread  laws,  tides,  clocks,  the  condition  of  the 
poor,  Phoenician  commerce,  weights  and  measures,  paper 
money,  and  cottage  gardens. 

1  Editor  of  the  Critical  Review. 


30      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

Rickman's  next  letter  is  dated  May  28. 

'I  read  the  letter  with  much  pleasure  which  informed 
me  of  your  safe  arrival  at  Lisbon.  I  suppose  by  this 
time  your  sea-sickness  is  almost  forgotten.  I  am  glad 
that  you  ascertained  that  imagination  can  also  cure  this 
disease.1  This  fact  may  hereafter  be  valuable  when  Davy  2 
shall  have  to  give  the  death-blow  to  quacks  of  all  descrip- 
tions. It  was  singular  that  about  the  time  (I  supposed) 
you  sailed,  a  rumour  was  current  here  that  the  French  fleet 
had  also  sailed  for  Lisbon.  You  had  then  found  unwelcome 
guests  in  the  Tagus.  I  suppose  a  Republican  Frenchman 
is  a  more  terrible  animal  at  Lisbon,  than  even  an  Irishman  ; 
I  confess  that  in  England  it  would  be  no  bad  regulation  to 
make  an  Irishman  a  contraband  freight ;  however  as  they 
are  soon  to  be  imported  as  legislators  I  must  take  care  of 
the  Scandalum  magnatum  penalties.  I  suppose  fortune 
hunting  will  be  more  successful  in  the  Parliament  House, 
than  it  has  ever  been  at  Bath  3  to  the  Paddies.  The  Union 
business  has  become  so  stale,  that  when  the  deputation  of 
both  houses  attended  his  Majesty  with  the  address  on  that 
subject,  half  an  hour  after  the  appointed  time,  they  were 
told  that  he  was  set  out  for  Windsor,  lest  he  should  be  too 
late  for  dinner-time  !  You  must  know  ere  this,  that  the 
King  has  been  fired  at  by  a  madman,4  with  little  danger  of 
being  struck,  from  the  distance,  and  from  the  random  effects 
of  a  common  pistol  shot.  However  we  thank  God  in  the 
churches  for  this  mercy  vouchsafed  to  a  sinful  people  ! 
The  man  is  to  be  tried  by  a  special  commission  ;  but  his 
lunacy  is  undoubted.  At  the  first  rumour  I  thought  it 
another  scheme  of  Dundas  5  to  revive  the  expiring  flame 
of  loyalty — however  it  has  not  had  that  effect  ;    the  pro- 

1  Southey  had  related  how  an  alarm  of  an  attack  by  a  French  cutter 
had  cured  him  of  sea-sickness  for  six  hours. 
1  The  scientist,  Sir  Humphry  Davy. 

3  Where  Pitt  was  recovering  from  the  gout. 

4  On  May  15  in  Drury  Lane  Theatre.     The  man  was  an  old  soldier  called 
James  Hadfield. 

8  Afterwards  Lord  Melville ;  at  this  time  Secretary  for  War. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      31 

posal  of  Bonaparte  for  peace  has  sank  deep  into  the  public 
mind,  and  the  minister  is  at  his  wits'  end.  A  proposed 
severity  in  the  collection  of  the  income  tax  had  not  one 
advocate  in  the  City.  It  is  therefore  dropped,  at  least  in 
regard  to  those  whose  income  exceeds  £2000  per  ann.  Other 
people  they  wish  still  to  submit  to  a  ruinous  scrutiny.  But 
this  seems  a  partiality  to  loan  mongers  too  violent  to  go 
down.  Pitt  under  his  disappointment  absented  himself 
so  long  from  the  House,  that  it  was  currently  reported  he 
was  gone  mad  !  To  be  sure  Ld.  Camelford  Ms  a  specimen 
of  madness  in  the  family  ;  he  has  been  in  two  scrapes  since 
I  came  hither,  for  the  last  of  which  Ld.  Kenyon  has  hold 
of  him,  and  threatens  heavily.  I  wrote  to  Davy  a  few 
days  before  the  Lisbon  packet  arrived  and  prophesied  a 
good  passage  to  you — a  lucky  prophet — but  you  know  I 
am  in  the  habit  of  looking  on  the  white  side  of  futurity — 
a  certain  gain  for  the  present,  and  little  consequent  loss. 
I  expect  to  hear  from  Davy  before  he  visits  the  metropolis  ; 
where  he  ought  to  remain  for  the  important  purposes  of 
fame  and  fortune.  If  I  can  persuade  him  that  the  public 
good  is  implicated  in  his  acquisition  of  these  things,  he 
perhaps  may  not  be  impregnable  :  arguments  which  have  self 
at  bottom  will  not  touch  him.  I  shall  have  truth  to  help 
me  in  my  plea  :  for  surely  on  his  fame  and  repute  much  uni- 
versal good  is  consequent.  ...  I  have  not  heard  of  Hamilton 
about  the  Review  ;  I  am  not  inclined  to  make  application 
to  him,  nor  am  I  very  solicitous  about  the  matter ;  if  it  is 
offered  I  shall  do  the  best  I  can.  They  have  a  month  or 
two  of  the  poetical  department  in  store.  I  thank  you  for 
your  offers  of  assistance  in  the  Magazine  affair  ;  but  I  do 
not  enough  care  about  its  success  to  give  you  the  least 
trouble  about  it.  The  printer  is  a  very  civil  man  ;  but 
has  not  correspondents  enough,  or  dash  enough  for  the 
undertaking.  So  let  it  go  on  jog-trot.  In  so  far  as  your 
enquiries  relative  to  the  Portuguese  history  may  coincide 
with  its  title,  I  should  be  well  pleased  to  receive  any  com- 
munication— on  this  condition,  that  you  do  not  mis'pend 

1  Finally  killed  in  a  duel  in  Kensington  in  1804. 


32      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

any  precious  time  in  it.  I  have  a  confused  recollection 
of  some  Portuguese  edict  about  preventing  the  planting 
new  vineyards,  under  pretence  of  not  diminishing  corn- 
land  ;  in  fact  to  establish  a  monopoly  in  favour  of  some 
lords  who  hold  most  vineyards.  It  is  said  that  port  is 
raised  lately  to  £10  per  pipe  in  Portugal — from  the  above 
cause  perhaps.  The  first  of  your  enquiries  on  this  subject 
would  be  acceptable  :  as  would  be  any  thing  on  the  popu- 
lation, agriculture,  tenure  of  farms,  commerce,  supply  of 
Lisbon  with  fuel  and  necessaries,  price  of  provision  etc. 
So  far  as  these  things  may  be  pertinent  in  the  history  I 
should  like  to  receive  them  in  company  with  Thalaba  ; 
the  best  of  your  poems  yet  published  ;  and  I  conjecture 
more  strictly  poetical  than  will  be  Madoc.  The  air  of 
history  in  the  epic,  always  (to  my  feel)  takes  off  the  con- 
tinuous, fine  edge  of  poetry.  .  .  .  I  am  in  possession  of  the 
benefit  of  your  civility  in  the  Westminster  library,  though 
I  have  made  very  little  use  of  it  yet,  having  been  much 
engaged  with  various,  compulsory  company.  Among  the 
rest  the  people  of  Christchurch  seem  to  have  combined 
together  to  visit  town.  To  speak  of  them  in  due  order  of 
precedence,  first,  Lady  Strathmore *  for  interment.  She 
was  so  silly  as  to  will  her  body  to  be  deposited  in  Poets 
Corner  (!)  and  lyes  there  within  three  yards  of  Shakspeare's 
Monument.  Concordes  Animae !  Kindred  Spirits !  She 
was  coffined  in  her  wedding  suit,  and  with  her  a  speaking 
trumpet !  When  one  recollects  her  confessions  recorded  in 
Doctors'  Commons,  and  published  by  Bowes,  and  which 
(beside  her  amours  with  Gray)  2  relate  two  artificial  abor- 
tions, one  must  confess  that  according  to  the  trumpet 
application  in  Butler's  description  of  fame,  this  interred 
trumpet  is  in  considerable  danger  of  an  unsavoury  blast. 

1  Mary  Elizabeth  Bowes,  Countess  of  Strathmore,  1749-1800.  Her 
husband,  the  ninth  earl,  died  in  1776.  After  some  very  indiscreet  flirtations 
she  married  an  adventurer,  who  took  her  surname,  treated  her  with  great 
brutality,  and  finally  abducted  her  when  she  was  suing  for  divorce.  She 
was  rescued,  and  he  was  imprisoned.  Her  confessions,  published  in  1793 
were  probably  extorted  by  her  husband. 

2  The  Hon.  George  Grey. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      33 

.  .  .  There  is  a  Bill  pending  before  Parliament  to  prevent 
nunneries  in  England.  I  hear  they  increase  fast,  and  that 
there  are  two  large  ones  in  Essex — Quocirca  hoc  ?  Why, 
it  proves  that  if  the  Sex  are  so  sensible  of  their  forlorn  con- 
dition as  to  embrace  a  new  religion,  and  unpleasant  vows 
for  the  sake  of  a  nunnery,  that  they  will  ardentty  embrace 
the  Beguinage  when  it  is  established.  Do  you  go  on  build- 
ing this  institution  in  your  head  ?  I  should  not  reckon 
that  waste  time  compared  with  the  researches  for  the 
history  of  Portugal,  If  you  mention  in  your  next  that 
the  Beguinage  is  not  forgotten,  I  will  try  to  proceed  pari 
passu  ;  but  no  faster  than  you  will  deign  to  march,  in  this 
chivalrous  emprize.  G.  Dyer  has  not  put  out  his  Spen- 
serian volume  yet.  ...  I  see  little  of  him,  he  is  much 
engaged  in  private  tutorage.  I  imagine  he  does  any  thing 
better  than  he  writes  poetry.  But  it  would  be  dangerous 
to  tell  him  so  ;  he  is  so  confident  of  not  imbibing  the  stream 
from  the  nether  orifice  of  that  bird  in  the  Edda.  J.  Cottle  is 
vigorously  printing  unfortunate  Alfred.  I  look  with  melan- 
choly to  his  future  disappointment.  Amos  Cottle  dines 
with  me  on  Saturday.  We  shall  drink  your  health,  and 
speedy  return  to  the  land  of  intellect  and  morality.  I 
hear  that  R.  Cottle  (whom  I  do  not  know)  is  going  to  com- 
mence a  bookselling  business.  Your  letter  is  down  at 
Clifford's  Inn.  As  it  contained  no  secret,  I  thought  it 
would  gratify  G.  D.  and  A.  C.1  to  see  themselves  not  forgotten, 
and  perhaps  in  some  sort  give  you  a  greater  latitude  of 
longer  silence  to  either  of  them  ;  for  of  writing  letters  you 
must  be  well  nigh  weary.  I  am  as  glad  as  you  that  you 
have  not  forgotten  Portuguese  ;  that  will  save  much  time. 
Mrs.  E.  S.  proceeds  in  that  task  with  rapidity,  I  daresay  ; 
I  think  females  are  good  at  learning  to  talk  outlandish 
tongues,  especially  if  she  can  accommodate  herself  to 
Portuguese  company.  There  are  no  middle-aged  women 
in  Portugal,  therefore  the  Prince  of  Wales  (perhaps)  did 
not  follow  you.  G.  Dyer  desires  me  to  convey  to  you 
Mrs.   Opie's  2  remembrances  with  his  own.     He  proposes 

1  Amos  Cottle.  2  The  novelist  and  poet,  wife  of  John  Opie,  the  painter. 

C 


34      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  &ICKMAN 

to  send  you  a  budget  of  literary  news  next  month.  His 
chivalry  is  anxious  that  his  respects  should  be  particularly 
conveyed  to  Mrs.  Southey.  I  without  chivalry  desire  the 
same  thing.' 

There  is  nothing  of  particular  moment  in  Rickman's 
letter  to  Southey  of  July  29,  except  that  one  page  of  it  is 
written  by  G.  Dyer,  and  that  it  contains  the  news  :  '  Mr. 
Lamb  is  soon  to  be  my  neighbour  in  Southampton  Buildings.' 
Dyer's  letter  is  written  in  what  Lamb  afterwards  called  his 
8  Grecian's  hand,'  and  is  only  just  legible.  It  gives  Southey 
news  of  the  literary  world,  mentioning  in  particular  the 
poems  of  R.  Bloomfield,  the  shoemaker-poet.  Lamb 
moved  in  this  year  from  Pentonville  to  lodge  with  his  friend 
Gutch,  the  law-stationer,  at  27  Southampton  Buildings, 
and  his  move  is  announced  in  a  letter  to  Coleridge.  This 
letter  of  Rickman's  proves  that  the  move  was  not  made  till 
well  into  the  summer  of  1800.  Rickman  had  as  yet  not 
made  Lamb's  acquaintance,  though  he  was  familiar  with 
his  name.  Southey  had  known  Lamb  since  1795,  and 
Lamb  had  even  stayed  with  him  at  Burton  in  1797,  but  it 
was  presumably  before  he  had  met  Rickman.  The  meeting 
between  Lamb  and  Rickman  took  place  in  the  autumn  of 
this  year,  and  Lamb  describes  it  in  an  ecstatic  letter  to  his 
friend  Manning  dated  November  3. 

'  I  have  made  an  acquisition  latterly  of  a  pleasant 
hand,  one  Rickman,  to  whom  I  was  introduced  by  George 
Dyer,  not  the  most  flattering  auspices  under  which  one  man 
can  be  introduced  to  another.  George  brings  all  sorts  of 
people  together,  setting  up  a  sort  of  agrarian  law,  or  common 
property,  in  matter  of  society  ;  but  for  once  he  has  done 
me  a  great  pleasure,  while  he  was  only  pursuing  a  principle, 
as  ignes  fatui  may  light  you  home.  This  Rickman  lives  in 
our  Buildings,  immediately  opposite  our  house  ;  the  finest 
fellow  to  drop  in  a'  nights,  about  nine  or  ten  o'clock — cold 
bread  and  cheese  time — just  in  the  wishing  time  of  the  night, 
when  you  wish  for  somebody  to  come  in,  without  a  distinct 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      35 

idea  of  a  probable  anybody.  Just  in  the  nick,  neither  too 
early  to  be  tedious,  nor  too  late  to  sit  a  reasonable  time. 
He  is  a  most  pleasant  hand  ;  a  fine  rattling  fellow,  has  gone 
through  life  laughing  at  solemn  apes  ; — himself  hugely 
literate,  oppressively  full  of  information  in  all  stuff  of 
conversation,  from  matter  of  fact  to  Xenophon  and  Plato — 
can  talk  Greek  with  Porson,  politics  with  Thelwall,  con- 
jecture with  George  Dyer,  nonsense  with  me,  and  anything 
with  anybody  ;  a  great  farmer,  somewhat  concerned  him- 
self in  an  agricultural  magazine  ;  reads  no  poetry  but 
Shakespeare  ;  very  intimate  with  Southey,  but  never  reads 
his  poetry  ;  relishes  George  Dyer  ;  thoroughly  penetrates 
into  the  ridiculous  wherever  found  ;  understands  the  first 
time  (a  great  desideratum  in  common  minds) — you  need 
never  twice  speak  to  him  ;  does  not  want  explanations,  trans- 
lations, limitations,  as  Professor  Godwin  does  when  you 
make  an  assertion  ;  up  to  anything  ;  down  to  everything  ; 
whatever  sapit  hominem.  A  perfect  man.  .  .  .  You  must 
see  Rickman  to  know  him,  for  he  is  a  species  in  one  ;  a  new 
class  ;  an  exotic  ;  any  slip  of  which  I  am  proud  to  put  in 
my  garden  pot ;  the  clearest  headed  fellow  ;  fullest  of 
matter,  with  least  verbosity.  If  there  be  any  alloy  in  my 
fortune  to  have  met  with  such  a  man,  it  is  that  he  commonly 
divides  his  time  between  town  and  country,  having  some 
foolish  family  ties  at  Christchurch,  by  which  means  he  can 
only  gladden  our  London  hemisphere  with  returns  of  light. 
He  is  now  going  for  six  weeks.' 

It  is  not  easy  to  realise  from  his  letters  by  what  charm 
Rickman,  who  in  all  that  he  wrote  was  too  matter  of  fact 
to  display  his  winning  qualities,  so  gained  the  affection  of 
such  men  as  Lamb  and  Southey.  Southey's  letters  from 
Portugal  never  end  without  a  regret  that  Rickman  is  not 
there  too,  while  there  is  something  almost  pathetic  in 
Lamb's  enthusiasm.  Lamb's  letters  to  him  are  full  of 
affection  and  admiration,  while  Rickman,  though,  as  we 
shall  see,  he  appreciated  Lamb  very  highly,  and  was  ready 
to  assist  him  in  any  way,  never  alludes  to  him  with  any 


36      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

warmth  of  feeling,  even  after  his  death.  In  his  next  letter 
to  Southey  of  December  23,  which  opens  with  an  account 
of  the  incomplete  negotiations  for  the  sale  of  Thalaba  to 
Longmans,  Rickman  quotes  Lamb's  opinion  of  the  poem 
that  '  it  contains  more  poetry  and  manifests  more  care  than 
Joan  of  Arc.'  This  letter  contains  an  allusion  to  Rickman 's 
decision  not  to  enter  the  Church.     He  says  : — 

'  I  am  very  glad  to  learn  .  .  .  that  your  brother  has 
a  very  promising  prospect  before  him,  if  he  chuses  to 
enter  the  Church.  I  hope  he  has  not  genius  or  severity 
enough  to  refuse  it.  Though  I  myself  have  (somewhat  to 
my  cost)  declined  telling  lies  once  a  week  for  hire,  I  wish 
my  friends  a  different  opinion  and  less  scrupulosity.' 

Rickman  goes  on  to  speak  of  Cottle,  whom  a  wicked  wit 
in  his  rooms  had  called  the  '  Epic  Owl,'  and  concludes  with 
an  account  of  the  failure  of  Godwin's  play  Antonio,  of  which 
Lamb  told  the  story  so  inimitably  in  his  essay  on  the  old 
actors  in  the  London  Magazine,  and  in  a  letter  to  Manning 
of  December  16. 

The  next  letter  to  Southey  deserves  quotation  at  length. 

1  Deer.  27th,  1800. 
'  I  wish  you  to  consider  my  last,  as  only  half  a  letter ; 
otherwise  the  omission  of  any  remembrance  of  Mrs.  Southey, 
and  enquiring  about  the  state  of  your  own  health,  and  about 
the  period  of  your  return  to  England  may  be  felt  as  in- 
civility. However  you  know  how  one  sometimes  slips  on 
to  the  end  of  the  paper,  unconscious.  As  I  really  wish  to 
be  informed  on  the  above  points,  satisfy  my  longing  in  your 
next.  About  Thalaba — Longman  has  this  day  given  a 
three  months'  note  payable  to  the  order  of  Mr.  J.  May. 
He  made  a  push  to  obtain  the  edition  at  100  guineas,  but 
I  told  him,  time  could  not  be  afforded  to  consult  you  by 
letter,  and  that  I  myself  could  not  feel  justified  in  taking 
less  than  £115,  thus  splitting  the  difference  between  your 
first  demand,  and  his  first  offer.     You  are  to  have  a  dozen 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      37 

copies.  I  asked  for  half  of  them  on  large  paper  :  but  it  is 
pleaded  that  the  printing  expense  of  those  few,  would  be 
same  as  of  250.  Otherwise  Mr.  L.  would  make  no  objection. 
I  think  his  plea  valid,  and  have  given  up  the  point.  He 
has  a  great  appetite  to  mutilate  the  beauty  of  the  title  page, 
by  inserting,  A  Metrical  Romance.  I  would  not  assent  to 
this,  and  the  matter  is  compromised  by  liberty  to  say  these 
words  on  the  second  title,  after  the  preface.  It  was  necessary 
to  say  it  somewhere,  and  that  seems  the  fittest  place.  [Here 
follow  further  details  about  the  printing  of  the  poem.]  .  .  . 
G.  Dyer  has  your  letter.  He  dines  with  me  to-day.  I  am 
about  to  attempt  to  persuade  him  not  to  cancel  a  long 
preface  of  80  or  90  pages,  which  he  has  prefixed  to  a  vol.  of 
poems,  printed  but  not  published — and  this,  because  for- 
sooth, he  thinks  he  has  committed  himself  in  some  opinion 
given  of  some  poet  or  other.  Thus  in  this  idle  punctilio, 
he  is  likely  to  waste  £20  or  £30.  His  poems  are  publishing 
by  subscription  :  I  fear  me  much,  that  his  necessities  will 
spend  the  money  received,  and  the  future  bill  from  the 
printer  will  drive  him  half -mad.  He  projects  three  vols.  :  it 
is  humourous  to  see  him  anxious  about  some  feeble  criticism, 
which  no  soul  will  ever  read.  But  his  exertion  of  a  fanciful 
literary  justice  is  honourable  to  him — I  wish  it  was  not 
expensive.  He  exhibits  an  obstinacy  on  this  point,  which 
I  fear  I  shall  not  conquer.1 

'  We  feel  also  a  scarcity  here.  Bread  about  4| d.  a  lb. — and 
little  hope  of  fall  till  next  harvest.  The  mob  (high  and  low) 
prate  about  monopoly  :  and  if  Mr.  Pitt  had  not  luckily  in 
his  youth  read  Adam  Smith,  by  this  time  England  would 
have  been  a  scene  of  injustice,  and  the  future  summer  had 
produced  an  absolute  and  fatal  famine.  Rice  is  sent  for, 
and  expected  in  June.  Meat  is  not  dear  (considering); 
about  7d.  per  lb.,  much  the  cheapest  aliment ;.  the  people 
tolerably  quiet  under  their  affliction  ;   perhaps  it  may  issue 

1  Lamb  describes  Dyer's  crazy  obstinacy  in  a  very  amusing  letter  to 
Manning  of  December  27.  The  half-burnt  cancelled  preface  bound  into 
Lamb's  copy  of  the  poems  is  in  the  British  Museum.  The  first  volume  was 
issued  in  1801  without  a  preface,  and  two  complete  volumes  in  1802. 


38      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

in  the  first  of  national  goods  :  a  general  inclosure  Bill.  .  .  . 
Your  brother  goes  into  the  Church  :  and  the  product  of 
Thalaba  (a  thing  of  more  consequence)  into  your  pocket. 
Had  I  been  aware  of  that  destination,  I  had  pushed 
Longman  for  a  shorter  date.  Three  months  I  considered  as 
a  fair  distance  for  an  apprenticeship  fee.  However,  it  may 
be  readily  discounted.  I  thank  you  for  the  commercial 
intelligence  which  you  occasionally  give  me.  By  inserting 
it  (in  a  guarded  shape)  I  make  your  epistles  pay  me  much 
more  than  the  postage  to  and  from  Lisbon.  I  have  continued 
to  conduct  the  Magazine,  I  mentioned  to  you.  As  it  is  quite 
in  my  own  way,  it  is  rather  a  pleasurable  occupation,  and 
producing  about  £70  per  ann.  The  Critical  Reviewers  have 
(I  suppose)  got  some  other  poet-taster.  They  were  not  so 
civil  as  to  write  to  me  on  the  subject  :  but  from  starving 
scribblers,  and  brutal  booksellers  one  does  not  expect  much 
attention.  As  I  have  a  very  mean  opinion  of  my  talents  for 
that  task,  I  am  glad  to  avoid  it,  hoping  you  will  resume  it 
on  your  return.  For  as  you  must  wish  to  read  the  political 
effusions  of  the  day  (I  had  almost  called  them  ephemeral) 
the  money  reced-  may  be  esteemed  clear  gain.  I  have 
another  occupation  offered  me  :  of  which  this  is  the  history. 
At  my  suggestion,  they  have  passed  an  Act  of  Parliament  for 
ascertaining  the  population  of  Great  Britain,  and  as  a 
compliment  (of  course)  have  proposed  to  me  to  superintend 
the  execution  of  it.  Next  March  the  returns  will  be  made, 
and  I  shall  be  busy  enough  for  a  short  time,  I  suppose. 
I  suspect  all  this  attention  (it  is  more  immediately  from 
G.  Rose)  is  intended  as  a  decent  bribe  :  which  I  shall  reject, 
by  doing  the  business  well,  and  taking  no  more  remuneration, 
than  I  judge  exactly  adequate  to  the  trouble.  It  is  a  task 
of  national  benefit,  and  I  should  be  fanciful  to  reject  it, 
because  offered  by  rogues.  As  they  well  know  me  for  their 
foe,  I  cannot  suspect  them  of  magnanimity  enough  to  notice 
me  with  any  good  intention.  At  all  events,  I  shall  go 
strait  forward.  I  wish  you  and  Mrs.  S.  a  merry  Xmas,  and 
a  happy  New  Year  !  leaving  the  rest  of  the  paper  to  be 
filled  next  Tuesday  morning.  J.  R.5 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      39 

'  December  30th,  1800. 

'  I  have  this  morning  reced.  a  letter  from  Mr.  J.  May, 
and  in  consequence  have  transmitted  to  him  the  note  of 
£115.  He  is  in  Wiltshire,  therefore  I  was  so  many  days 
in  hearing  from  him.  So  that  the  pecuniary  part  of 
the  business  is  now  complete.  ...  I  sometimes  think  of 
our  projected  Beguinage  with  satisfaction.  If  it  can  be 
brought  to  bear  (it  seems  not  impossible)  I  hope  all  the 
Ladies  will  allow,  that  at  least  I  have  a  little  solid  gallantry 
towards  their  sex.  I  have  not  written  a  word  more  about 
it  :  but  will  with  my  first  leisure — in  February — the  last 
half  of  which,  I  purpose  to  spend  in  the  country.  I  have 
a  very  pleasant  neighbour  opposite,  C.  Lamb.  He  laughs 
as  much  as  I  wish,  and  makes  even  puns,  without  remorse 
of  conscience.  He  has  lately  completed  a  dramatic  piece,1 
rather  tragic  (without  murder).  The  language  entirely 
of  the  last  century,  and  farther  back  :  From  Shakespeare, 
Beaumont,  and  Fletcher.  He  demurs  on  printing  it.  I 
wish  him  to  set  it  forth  under  some  fictitious  name  of  that 
age — Shirley  (perhaps)  who  was  burnt  out  at  the  great 
fire  of  London.  Lamb  is  peculiarly  happy  in  his  heroine, 
and  altogether  I  have  not  seen  a  play  with  so  much  humour, 
moral  feeling  and  correct  sentiment,  since  the  world  was 
young. 

'  G.  Dyer  is  miserable  about  his  unfortunate  preface.  I 
am  quite  vexed  at  his  obstinacy.  Lamb  calls  him, 
Cancellarius  Magnus,  The  Lord  High  Canceller.  I  have 
been  twice  at  Christchurch  this  year,  once  in  Sussex.  But 
still  London  is  best,  though  we,  have  not  seen  the  sun  for 
the  last  month  till  to-day.  Snow  fell  in  the  night.  There 
was  never  such  perpetual,  general  fog  known  :  an  un- 
healthy year  throughout,  except  for  invalids,  who  had 
Portugal  summer.  Bill  of  mortality  23,000 — 4000  above 
the  average.  Make  my  best  compts.  to  Mrs.  Southey  and 
your  uncle.  May  God  preserve  you  far  into  the  nineteenth 
century  ! ' 

1  Lamb's  play,  John  Woodvil.  It  is  mentioned  again  in  Rickman's 
correspondence. 


40      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

The  first  Population  Act  for  Great  Britain  passed  the 
House  of  Lords  the  very  day  on  which  the  first  part  of  this 
letter  was  written.  Herein,  little  as  he  knew  it  then,  lay  the 
fife- work  in  which  Rickman  was  to  take  the  highest  pride, 
for  it  enabled  him  to  be  of  that  '  utility  '  which  was  his 
continual  aim.  It  is  curious  that  he  should  speak  of  his 
employment  in  so  nonchalant  a  manner  to  Southey,  for 
he  must  have  looked  upon  his  own  handiwork  already  with 
pride.  In  1796,  while  Rickman  was  still  in  obscurity  at 
Burton,  he  wrote  a  paper  entitled  '  Thoughts  on  the  Utility 
and  Facility  of  a  general  Enumeration  of  the  People  of 
the  British  Empire,'  extracts  from  which  are  given  in  the 
memoir  by  W.  C.  Rickman.  These  extracts  set  forth, 
in  a  very  dry  manner,  the  economic  advantages  of  ascer- 
taining the  number  of  the  population,  the  probability  of 
its  being  far  higher  than  the  usual  estimate,  and  the  facility 
of  arithmetically  deducing  it  from  the  parish  registers. 
This  paper  was  communicated  by  Mr.  (afterwards  Sir  George) 
Rose,  the  member  for  Christchurch,  to  Charles  Abbot,  the 
future  Speaker,  who  was  also  interested  in  the  subject. 
Abbot  introduced  the  Population  Bill  in  1800,  and  on  its 
being  passed  offered  to  Rickman  the  supervision  of  the 
returns.  In  view  of  Abbot's  subsequent  employment  of 
Rickman  as  his  secretary,  it  is  not  hard  to  suppose  that 
Rickman's  suspicions  of  a  bribe  were  unfounded,  and  that 
his  anti-ministerial  ardours  in  reality  blazed  unseen. 

I  hope  I  may  be  excused  here  in  making  a  short  digression 
upon  the  census,  the  work  upon  which  Rickman  was 
occupied  more  or  less  continuously  for  the  rest  of  his 
life,  though  I  do  not  propose  to  go  into  the  question  of  its 
economic  results.  The  whole  machinery  was  set  to  work 
in  1801  by  Rickman,  who  was  given  an  office  in  the  Cockpit,1 
and  authority  to  choose  his  clerks.  The  aim  was  to  find 
out  not  only  the  number  of  the  population,  but  also  to 
estimate  the  increase  or  decrease  from  the  records  in  the 
parish  registers.  The  returns  of  1801  were  made  by  the 
clergy  under  six  heads  : — 

1  A  little  valley  off  the  Birdcage  Walk. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     41 

(1)  The   number   of   inhabited   houses,    the   number   of 

uninhabited   houses,  and  the  number   of  families 
inhabiting  each  house  ; 

(2)  The  number  of  persons,  excluding  soldiers  and  sailors, 

found  in  the  parish  on  the  day  of  inquiry  ; 

(3)  The  number  of  persons  engaged  in  trade,  agriculture, 

manufacture,  and  the  number  not  so  engaged  ; 

(4)  The  number  of  baptisms  and  funerals  during  every 

period  of  ten  years  from   1700  to  1780,  and  from 
1780  to  1800,  in  each  year  ; 

(5)  The  number  of  marriages  yearly  between  1754  and 

1800  (the  Marriage  Act  not  having  been  enforced 
till  1754) ;   and 

(6)  Explanatory  remarks. 

From  this  short  list  of  questions  has  sprung  the  elaborate 
census  paper  of  to-day.  It  is  not  surprising  that  the  returns 
of  1801,  important  as  they  are,  were  very  inaccurate.  The 
clergy  were  not  all  equally  intelligent  in  drafting  their  returns, 
and  there  was  considerable  difficulty  in  determining  what 
constituted  a  family.  The  further  question,  requiring  a 
return  of  parish  registers,  was  so  inaccurately  answered  that 
the  results  were  not  printed.  In  1811  some  improvements 
were  made  in  the  questions,  old  houses  being  distinguished 
from  new,  and  in  the  question  as  to  occupation  families 
were  substituted  for  persons.  Only  the  births,  deaths, 
and  marriages  were  returned  by  the  clergy,  the  rest  of  the 
inquiry  being  entrusted  to  the  overseers  of  the  parish.  In 
1821  the  questions  were  much  the  same,  except  that  the 
number  of  persons  of  various  ages — the  unit  being  5  years 
from  1  to  20  and  10  years  from  20  to  100 — was  specifically 
asked. 

In  1831  the  scope  of  the  inquiry  was  considerably 
enlarged.  The  difficulty  of  determining  the  constitution 
of  a  family  was  solved  by  applying  the  inquiry  to  males 
of  twenty  years  of  age,  and  making  a  careful  schedule  of 
the  various  trades  and  professions.  The  agricultural  class 
was  divided  into  occupiers  of  land  employing  labourers, 


42      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

occupiers  not  so  doing,  and  labourers.  The  Parish  Register 
Act  of  1812  enabled  a  return  to  be  made  of  ages  at  the 
time  of  death,  and  the  whole  returns  were  arranged  for  the 
first  time  under  parishes,  and  no  longer  under  hundreds. 
The  returns  of  1801,  1811,  and  1821  were  issued  in  single 
volumes.  Those  of  1831  were  more  elaborate.  In  view 
of  the  Reform  Bill  it  was  necessary  to  publish  the  in- 
formation as  soon  as  possible.  By  a  stupendous  effort 
the  digest  of  twenty-eight  thousand  returns,  which  did  not 
come  in  till  August  1831,  was  published  in  January  1832, 
in  two  volumes,  entitled  A  Comparative  Account  of  the 
population  of  Great  Britain  in  1831.  Rickman's  very  able 
preface  includes  an  account  of  the  origins  of  London,  and 
remarks  upon  the  increased  duration  of  life,  with  a  mor- 
tality table  for  the  county  of  Essex.  But  these  two  hastily 
produced  volumes  were  superseded  in  1833  by  the  Abstract 
of  Returns,  in  three  volumes,  to  which  was  prefaced  a  com- 
parative account,  in  one  volume,  of  the  results  of  the  four 
census  years.  The  Abstract  contains  a  complete  account 
of  the  parish  registers  of  England.  Rickman's  preface  to 
this  Abstract  shows  him  a  master  of  his  subject.  '  A  con- 
troversy,' as  he  says,  '  of  some  duration  had  existed  as  to 
the  increase  or  diminution  of  the  population  ;  and  the 
result  of  the  Act  of  1801  being  adverse  to  the  opinions  of 
those  who  had  taken  a  gloomy  view  of  national  resources, 
insinuations  were  not  wanting  against  the  accuracy  of  the 
enumeration.'  Rickman  therefore  carefully  explains  the 
machinery,  proves  the  efficacy  of  the  1821  returns  from 
their  use  in  the  debates  on  the  Reform  Bill,  and  goes  into 
the  whole  question  of  parish  areas.  There  is  also  a  general 
statistical  inquiry  to  produce  data  for  the  average  expec- 
tancy of  life,  and  finally  a  comparison  of  the  vie  moyenne 
(expectation  of  life  at  birth),  as  calculated  from  the  ages 
of  the  deceased  (1813-1830),  with  the  percentage  increase 
of  the  population  during  the  years  1801-1831  in  the  several 
counties  of  England. 

By  his  labours  Rickman  earned  a  well-deserved  reputa- 
tion, at  home  and  abroad,  as  a  statistician.     He  became  a 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      43 

Fellow  of  the  Royal  Society  in  1815,  and  in  1833  received 
the  honorary  membership  of  the  Societe  Frangaise  de 
Statistique  Universelle.  He  contributed  several  articles 
on  the  probability  of  life  to  the  Medical  Gazette  between 
1835  and  1837,  and  translated  Deparcieux's  work  on  the 
Probabilities  and  Duration  of  Human  Life.  During  the  last 
years  of  his  life  he  was  working  continuously  on  the  returns 
for  1841,  as  he  had  obtained  leave  to  ask  for  returns  of 
births,  deaths,  and  marriages  from  1570  to  1750,  where  early 
parish  registers  were  known  to  exist.  The  result  of  this 
inquiry  appears  in  the  preface  to  the  census  return  of  1841, 
in  the  form  of  a  table  giving  the  calculated  population  of 
the  counties  of  England  and  Wales  at  intervals  between 
1570  and  1750. 

Rickman's  work  upon  the  census  was  in  every  way 
patriotic.  He  had  to  make  headway  against  many  oppon- 
ents, chiefly  of  the  Malthusian  school,  and  even  in  the  last 
year  of  his  life  he  had  to  defend  himself  in  a  letter  to  the 
Home  Office  against  an  anonymous  attack.  In  this  letter, 
extracts  from  which  are  given  in  the  MS.  memoir  in  the 
House  of  Commons  Library,  he  proves  that,  though  he 
received  on  an  average  five  hundred  guineas  for  each  return, 
this  payment  was  supposed  to  cover  a  number  of  other 
statistical  labours  in  intermediate  years,  and  that  on  the 
whole,  from  the  necessity  of  advancing  immediate  working 
expenses  which  could  not  be  recovered,  he  was  financially 
an  actual  loser.  Such  a  result  is  hardly  creditable  to  the 
governments  he  had  served.  For  far  less  services  than  his 
men  have  been  heaped  with  rewards,  but  it  is  probable  that 
Rickman's  uncompromising  political  views  made  it  only 
too  easy  to  ignore  the  just  claims  which  he  himself  would 
have  scorned  to  put  forward. 


CHAPTER    III 

1801  to  early  1802 

George  Burnett — Rickuian  secretary  to  Abbot  in  Ireland — Letters  from 
Lamb — G.  D.'s  rescue — His  letter — '  Horse  medicine  '  for  Burnett — 
His  '  second  birth '  and  tutorship — Lamb  and  the  Morning  Post — 
Abbot  appointed  Speaker — Rickman  leaves  Ireland. 

By  the  summer  of  1801  Southey  and  his  wife  had  returned 
from  Portugal,  and  were  staying  at  Bristol  with  their  friends 
the  Dan  vers.  Southey  had  a  hope  of  returning  to  Southern 
Europe  as  secretary  to  a  legation,  which  explains  Rickman's 
allusion  to  his  going  '  cost  free  '  in  his  letter  of  July  13. 
This  and  the  following  letter  contain  Rickman's  views  upon 
the  political  crisis  which  followed  the  union  with  Ireland, 
when  Pitt  resigned,  and  was  succeeded  by  Addington.  His 
explanation  of  events  is  hardly  one  that  can  be  accepted 
in  view  of  our  present  historical  knowledge,  but  these  letters 
show  that  aversion  to  the  Whig  party  and  that  readiness  to 
believe  the  worst  of  them  which  is  so  strong  in  his  later 
letters.  The  first  mention  is  here  made  by  Rickman  of 
the  unfortunate  George  Burnett,  the  friend  of  Southey, 
Coleridge,  and  Lamb,  who  finally  died  in  a  workhouse  in 
1811.  Rickman's  letters  enable  us  to  fill  up  some  gaps  in  his 
story,  which  has  never  been  fully  told,  though  his  name 
appears  in  lives  of  Lamb,  in  Mrs.  Sandford's  Thomas  Poole 
and  his  Friends,  and  in  Crabb  Robinson's  Diary.  He  was 
the  son  of  a  farmer  in  Somersetshire,  and  was  sent  to  Balliol 
with  a  view  to  entering  the  Church.  Unfortunately  for  him 
— for  he  was  of  a  weak,  vain  character — he  met  Southey,  then 
in  his  most  revolutionary  mood.  Coleridge's  visit  to  Oxford 
in  1794  resulted  in  the  scheme  of  Pantisocracy,  which,  as 
Southey  told  Cottle,  was  talked  into  shape  by  Burnett  and 
himself.     Burnett  threw  up  all  idea  of  entering  the  Church, 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      45 

and  devoted  himself  to  this  mad  plan  of  settling  a  Utopia 
on  the  banks  of  the  Susquehanna.  He  fell  entirely  under 
Coleridge's  domination,  and  lived  with  him  for  a  time 
during  his  honeymoon  at  Clevedon.  When  Pantisocracy 
died  he  seems  to  have  studied  surgery  in  Edinburgh,  and  in 
1798  he  was  a  Unitarian  minister  at  Yarmouth,  where  he 
became  tutor  to  Southey's  brother,  and  made  the  acquaint- 
ance of  William  Taylor,  the  translator  of  Goethe.  It  is  not 
certain  when  he  came  to  London,  nor  how  he  met  Rickman. 
I  suspect  that  Dyer,  the  self-constituted  support  of  the 
needy,  took  him  in  hand  and  introduced  him  to  Rickman, 
possibly  at  Southey's  recommendation.  He  was  a  man  of 
some  talent,  but  absolutely  unpractical,  as  we  shall  see. 
Lamb  found  in  him  a  continual  source  of  laughter,  Rickman 
as  continual  a  source  of  irritation.  Rickman's  appoint- 
ment as  Abbot's  secretary  speaks  for  itself.  It  was  the 
beginning  of  an  official  career  which  only  ended  with  his 
death.  So  much  preface  was  necessary  to  the  following 
two  letters  to  Southey  : — 

'July  13th,  1801. 
'  I  received  an  unexpected  pleasure  on  my  return  home 
this  evening  in  hearing  that  you  once  more  retread  your 
natale  solum.  I  suppose  you  stand  among  the  last  of  the 
English  in  Portugal ;  your  description  of  their  campaign 
is  exactly  what  I  expected  of  these  Lusitanian  heroes.  I 
am  glad  you  are  pleased  with  the  appearance  of  Thalaba 
in  his  new  dress  ;  for  my  part  I  like  him  better  in  print  than 
I  did  in  MS. :  wherefore,  I  know  not.  ...  I  question 
whether  you  have  not  formed  a  wrong  opinion  of  the  new 
Ministry  ;  in  as  far  as  you  seem  to  identify  them  with 
their  predecessors.  I  don't  think  there  is  the  least  con- 
nection. There  are  mutual  reasons  for  civility — from  Pitt, 
that  he  might  escape  a  threatened  impeachment,  from  them 
to  gain  the  aid  of  his  personal  friends — I  should  perhaps  say 
political  friends,  since  his  cold  heart  can  have  gained  no 
other.  However  he  gave  away  much  necessarily ;  and 
while  gratitude  is  extant,  must  therefore  retain  some  in- 


46      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

fluence.  There  is  some  hope  of  the  present  Premier 1 ; 
I  suppose  that  even  self-love  cannot  whisper  to  him  that 
he  is  a  great  man  ;  therefore  he  is  the  more  likely  to  conform 
to  the  public  wish,  and  builds  his  hopes  of  stability  on  a 
speedy  peace  on  reasonable  terms.  That  he  is  well  affected 
to  science  and  improvements,  I  am  well  assured.  Pitt  had 
genius  without  acquired  knowledge  ;  whence  his  affectation 
of  infallibility  and  all  the  woes  of  Europe.  The  King's 
influence  has  turned  him  out ;  a  good  effect  from  a  bad 
cause.  I  am  concerned,  though  not  surprised  to  find  you 
a  little  embarrassed  about  the  purse  ;  I  wish  common  sense 
had  been  suffered  to  take  its  course  in  your  brother  ;  I  find 
Burnet  is  one  of  the  delinquents  there.  But  he  is  so  ab- 
stracted and  thoughtless  of  the  future  in  his  own  affairs, 
that  nothing  but  ignorance  of  the  world  is  to  be  imputed 
to  him  there.  I  am  trying  to  teach  him  the  worth  of  money 
by  making  him  live  on  two  guineas  per  week.  Incredible 
as  it  may  seem,  he  has  spent  all  his  resources  without  an 
exertion  at  anything  decisive.  I  wish  that  you  may 
resume  the  Review,  that  at  least  you  may  leave  it  to  him 
as  a  legacy  at  your  next  departure.  After  the  respectful 
criticisms  on  Alfred,2  you  may  do  that  with  a  safe  conscience. 
I  hope  and  am  trying  to  secure  him  better  employment 
— when  his  present  labour  ceases.  You  know  that  he  is  a 
fellow  workman  with  me  on  a  tedious  job  ;  made  so  by  the 
incredible  inaccuracy  of  the  returns  under  the  Population 
Act.  I  write  hundreds  of  letters  to  little  purpose,  and  have 
worked  about  9  weeks  without  being  able  to  say  that  any- 
thing is  done.  However,  I  have  made  interest  to  have 
the  state  of  the  business  published  that  blame  may  be 
shifted  from  me  to  those  who  deserve  it ;  and  that  thereby 
they  may  be  stimulated  to  activity.  However  my  vexa- 
tion at  this  delay  will  be  well  repaid  ;  since  I  am  to  follow 
Mr.  Abbot  to  Ireland  as  his  private  secretary ;  when  you 
know  that  he  is  to  be  the  real  Governor  of  Ireland,  you 
will  think  this  a  post  of  some  consideration ;  especially  as 
I  understand  he  means  to  attend  the  English  Parliament 

1  Addington.  2  Cottle's  poem.     See  note  p.  27. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      47 

annually,  and  must  therefore  leave  important  matters  to 
his  Suppleans. 

'  I  thank  God  the  Irish  parliament  is  annihilated  by  the 
Union  !  No  dirty  business  to  manage  with  the  vilest 
assembly  under  the  sun  !  So  I  have  heard  them  described 
by  some  of  themselves.  I  am  told  that  I  shall  have  no 
disagreeable  business,  and  have  no  objection  to  labour  for 
the  improvement  of  Ireland.  You  may  suppose  that 
nothing  can  be  more  pleasant  in  prospect  than  experiments 
for  the  civilisation  of  the  untutored  Irish.  I  am  to  be  in 
Dublin  (if  possible)  by  the  first  of  Sepr.,  therefore  should  be 
glad  to  hear  of  you,  how  you  apportion  your  nearest  time. 
I  am  to  be  partly  here,  and  partly  in  Hampshire  till  the 
time  of  departure  ;  and  have  a  power  of  choice  about  the 
"  when  "  if  timeously  informed ;  so  that  I  may  have  much 
of  the  pleasure  of  your  society.  Longman  has  twice  desired 
me  to  say,  that  he  hopes  to  see  you  whenever  you  come  to 
town;.  -.  I  abjure  all  my  little  aversion  to  poetry  in  deference 
to  your  cogent  reasons  ;  I  only  think  poetry  bad  in  a  man 
who  may  be  better  employed  :  a  toy  in  manhood.  Only 
don't  write  for  the  Stage  :  I  think  I  don't  slide  into  too 
strong  a  phrase,  when  I  say,  that  the  success  of  good 
dramatic  poetry  is  physically  impossible  in  England,  while 
the  theatres  are  so  enormous.  When  the  audience  can  no 
longer  hear,  they  must  degenerate  into  spectators  of  scenery 
and  pantomime.  I  hope  soon  to  see  you  in  town — to  hear 
from  you  again  sooner.  I  knew  not  that  Davy  was  hence 
till  I  learnt  it  from  your  letter.  I  daresay  you  find  him 
well  pleased  with  his  change  of  situation.  He  will  be  a  great 
man  in  this  only  theatre  of  greatness.  Dan  vers  too  is  busy 
— a  glorious  thing  for  a  commonsense  man,  like  him.  For 
my  part  I  think  in  all  men  that  science  is  a  relaxation  in 
business — business  in  science ;  so  two  good  things  go  on  at 
a  time.  I  am  near  the  end  of  my  paper — therefore  dedicate 
it  to  send  my  remembrances  to  Mrs.  Dan  vers,  Edith,  Davy 
and  Danvers — and  to  desire  that  I  may  hear  of  you  again 
at  your  first  leisure.  When  you  see  Mrs.  Southey  mention 
me  to  her.' 


48      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

'London,  July  24,  1801. 

'  .  .  .  I  was  in  a  mistake  about  the  rout  of  the  English 
from  Portugal ;  and  you  about  the  rout  of  Pitt,  for  the  same 
reason — distance  from  the  scene.  You  speak  of  the  Catholic 
question  as  involved  in  the  last  affair.  It  was  a  mere 
excuse — so  compleatly  so,  that  the  titular  Bishop  (of  Cork 
I  think)  the  agent  here  for  the  Irish  Catholics,  had  only  to 
observe,  when  applied  to  by  the  Opposition,  that  his  em- 
ployers in  Ireland  were  well  enough  satisfied,  as  things  are. 
And  well  they  may  be  so,  as  what  they  call  Emancipation, 
consists  only  in  a  right  to  sit  in  Parliament — they  already 
vote  for  Members,  which  Catholics  in  England  cannot  do. 
If  the  point  were  conceded,  only  four  or  five  Catholics 
would  be  returned — "  Parturiunt  montes."  Here  's  a  plain 
tale  ;  the  King  quarrelled  with  Pitt  about  the  rejection 
of  an  augmentation  of  Army  pay  and  Army  patronage  for 
the  amusement  of  young  hopefull,  the  Duke  of  York.  Pitt 
was  in  the  right  ;  but  in  England  the  King's  influence  is 
omnipotent  with  the  aid  of  the  Opposition,  which  he  would 
be  sure  of  always  against  any  Minister.  So  Pitt  went  out, 
and  both  parties  had  obvious  reasons  for  a  decent  ostensible 
cause. 

'  I  am  in  intention  of  visiting  Hampshire  in  the  commence- 
ment of  August,  then  come  back  to  arrange  the  last  of  the 
Population  returns,  then  for  Ireland.  I  am  much  distressed 
about  Burnet  :  I  never  saw  so  unconvertible  talents  as 
his.  I  puzzle  myself  in  thinking  what  he  can  ever  be  fit  for. 
He  thinks  too  highly  of  himself  for  common  purposes  ;  and 
God  knows  he  is  fit  for  no  other.  I  am  trying  to  starve 
him  into  common  sense  and  moderate  expectations — but 

1  fear  he  is  incurable.  At  present  he  is  confoundedly  out 
of  humour  with  me  for  administering  tins  horse  medicine. 
Our  Population  business  is  so  much  beneath  him,  that  he 
has  not  yet  condescended  to  understand  it,  and  does  not 

2  hours  work  in  a  day.  I  must  dismiss  all  who  cannot 
employ  themselves  without  leading  strings  when  I  go  for 
Christchurch  ;  so  that  his  unwilling  occupation  will  cease 
on  Saturday  week.     He  might  be  assistant  at  Hackney 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      49 

School ;  or  at  a  private  academy  at  Cork  if  he  would  !  but 
receives  such  proposals  with  indignation  as  a  disparagement 
to  his  abilities.  Yet,  greater  men  than  he,  have  submitted 
to  this  drudgery.  I  know  not  what  to  do  about  him.  On 
some  surgical  whim  he  writes  to  you  this  week.  I  am  con- 
vinced there  is  nothing  solid  to  be  expected  by  him  on  that 
speculation.  A  little  clinical — Edinburgh — theory  is  not 
much  to  the  purpose  in  London.  I  shall  be  glad  to  hear 
from  you  by  August  1st  before  I  depart  hence.' 

On  August  1  there  is  further  news  of  Burnett  in  a  letter 
written  to  Southey  just  before  Rickman's  departure  from 
London. 

'  Burnet  improves  ;  he  has  had  a  recommendatory  letter 
from  Norwich,  from  Mr.  Taylor  to  Dr.  Aikin.  This  letter 
extols  the  said  Burnet  as  one  of  the  first  men  of  the 
age  ;  and  has  had  the  good  effect  thus  to  rouse  him  from 
his  lethargy,  and  make  him  walk  erect.  Dr.  Aikin  will 
admit  his  productions  into  the  Monthly  Mag.  and  may 
perhaps  get  him  some  other  literary  employ.  But  at  this 
Burnet  can  never  thrive — anything  like  a  task  scares  him, 
and  givefs]  him  the  Blue  Devils,  during  whose  influence  he 
is  fit  for  nothing  but  pestering  his  friends  with  moping 
epistles.  I  am  pleased  that  he  will  soon  come  to  knowledge 
of  himself,  of  what  he  can  do.  At  present  it  is  all  in  the 
strong  box.  I  am  already  lecturing  him  on  this  text,  "  Now 
that  you  are  sure  your  labour  will  not  be  wasted,  why  don't 
you  begin  to  write  ?  "  He  intends  it,  he  says,  and  will 
doubtless  intend  it,  till  he  discovers  that  he  is  incapable  of 
any  steady  exertion.  In  the  mean  time  on  my  expostulation, 
he  has  at  length  consented  to  condescend  to  understand  our 
present  business  ;  therefore  of  course  he  stays  to  the  end 
of  it.  Hitherto  he  has  always  said  that  there  was  nothing 
to  understand  ;  and  therefore  would  not  attend  to  thought 
about  it.  He  has  carried  his  abstraction,  or  the  affecta- 
tion of  it,  so  far,  as  to  have  asked,  oftener  than  once,  for 
instructions  what  he  should  do,  when  he  had  copied  any- 
thing wrong.     The  answer,  "  Scratch  it  out,  and  correct  it  " 

D 


50      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

did  not  disconcert  him  at  all.  His  abstraction  was  to  go 
for  philosophy,  and  an  indication  of  mental  powers  superior 
to  the  business-doing  part  of  mankind.  I  begin  to  have 
hopes  of  him  for  all  this,  and  as  you  may  suppose,  shall 
do  for  him  as  much  real  good  as  I  can.' 

Of  Rickman's  departure  Lamb  wrote  to  his  friend  Manning 
on  August  31  : — 

'  I  have  just  lost  Rickman,  a  faint  idea  of  whose 
character  I  sent  you.  He  has  gone  to  Ireland  for  a  year 
or  two  to  make  his  fortune  ;  and  I  have  lost  by  his  going 
what  seems  to  me  I  can  never  recover — a  finished  man.  His 
memory  will  be  to  me  as  the  brazen  serpent  to  the  Israelites, 
— I  shall  look  up  to  it,  to  keep  me  straight  and  honest.' 

Lamb  constituted  himself  the  chief  news-writer  to  Rick- 
man during  his  absence  from  London,  and  six  letters  from 
him  during  the  autumn  of  1801  begin  the  collection  of 
twenty  which  Rickman  preserved.  These  letters  were  only 
published  in  the  last  edition  of  Lamb's  Letters  by  Canon 
Ainger  (1906),  so  that  they  are  little  known.  I  am,  unfor- 
tunately, prevented  from  quoting  them.  The  first  letter, 
dated  September  16,  is  from  Margate,  and  refers  to  a  letter 
from  Rickman  containing  an  offer  about  Lamb's  play — 
probably  the  offer  which  was  repeated  later  to  defray  the 
cost  of  its  printing.  Lamb  refuses,  as  he  is  expecting  the 
repayment  of  a  loan.  He  proceeds  to  relate  the  fact  that 
George  Dyer  has  introduced  him  to  the  Morning  Chronicle  ; 
that  Burnett  (whom  Lamb  nicknamed  George  n.,  the  Bishop, 
and  G.  B.)  has  just  finished  a  metaphysical  essay,  on  which 
he  humorously  comments,  and  is  in  very  comfortable  rooms 
with  the  son  of  a  wine  merchant  who  keeps  them  in  two 
sorts  of  wine  ;  and  that  Godwin  is  about  to  married,  his 
second  play  having  been  refused.  Lamb  follows  this  with 
an  inimitable  description  (on  October  9)  of  a  visit  to  George 
Dyer,  whom  he  found  very  dirty  and  inconsolable  because 
he  had  no  tribute  ready  to  the  memory  of  Gilbert  Wakefield, 
the  editor  of  Lucretius,  who  was  just  dead.  George  Burnett, 
who  was  nearly  well  of  his  '  metaphyz,'  had  supped  with  him 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      51 

the  night  before,  and  Lamb  gives  the  gist  of  his  mad  argu- 
ment about  the  ethics  of  prosecuting  a  highwayman  when 
you  had  promised  under  violence  not  to  do  so.  He  also 
describes  a  visit  from  a  needy  visitor,  for  whom  Lamb 
humorously  asks  Rickman  to  find  a  post. 

Rickman  arrived  in  Ireland  at  the  beginning  of  September  ; 
Abbot,  as  we  learn  from  his  Diary,1  having  arrived  in  July. 
England  was  still  at  war,  and  there  were  considerable  fears 
of  rebellion  and  invasion  at  Dublin.  The  official  fife  of  that 
ardent  reformer  was  highly  strenuous,  and  we  can  be  sure 
that  Rickman,  who  makes  little  reference  to  his  official 
business,  had  all  the  work  he  could  desire.  In  October 
Southey  joined  his  friend  at  Dublin.  Through  Rickman's 
influence  he  had  been  appointed  private  secretary  to  Mr. 
Corry,  who  was  then  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  for 
Ireland.  He  held  the  post,  which  meant  alternate  residence 
in  London  and  Dublin,  for  nearly  a  year.  On  October  16 
Southey  wrote  to  his  wife  2  : — 

'  John  Rickman  is  a  great  man  in  Dublin  and  in  the 
eyes  of  the  world,  but  not  one  jot  altered  from  the  John 
Rickman  of  Christchurch,  save  only  that,  in  compliance 
with  an  extorted  promise,  he  has  deprived  himself  of  the 
pleasure  of  scratching  his  head,  by  putting  powder  on  it. 
He  has  astonished  the  people  about  him.  The  government 
stationer  hinted  to  him  that  if  he  wanted  anything  in  the 
pocket  book  way,  he  might  as  well  put  it  down  in  the  order. 
Out  he  palled  his  own — "  Look  sir,  I  have  bought  one  for 
two  shillings."  His  predecessor  admonished  him  not  to  let 
himself  down  by  speaking  to  any  of  the  clerks.  "  Why,  sir," 
said  John  Rickman,  "  I  should  not  let  myself  down  if  I  spoke 
to  every  man  between  this  and  the  bridge."  And  so  he  goes 
on  his  own  right  way.' 

To  his  friend  Grosvenor  Bedford  Southey  wrote  3  : — 

'  I  am  reconciled  to  my  lot,  inasmuch  as  the  neighbour- 

1  Diary  of  Lord  Colchester,  i.  xiv. 

2  Life  and  Correspondence  of  E.  S.,  ii.  168. 

3  Selections  from  the  Letters  of  E.  S.,  i.  175. 


52     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

hood  of  Dublin  is  very  lovely,  and  in  John  Rickman's 
society  I  feel  little  want  of  any  other.  He  and  I,  like  a 
whale  and  a  man,  are  of  the  same  genus,  though  with  great 
specific  differences.  If  he  lives  long  enough,  I  expect  to  see 
him  one  of  the  greatest  and  most  useful  men  our  country 
has  produced.  He  bends  everything  to  practice.  His  very 
various  knowledge  is  always  brought  to  bear  upon  some 
point  of  general  importance  ;  and  his  situation  will  now 
give  him  the  power  of  producing  public  benefit.' 

Early  in  November  Lamb  wrote  again  to  Rickman.  The 
following  letter  was  found  by  Mr.  Gordon  Wordsworth, 
and  by  his  permission  and  that  of  Mr.  E.  V.  Lucas,  who 
printed  it  in  his  edition  of  Lamb's  works,  I  am  permitted 
to  reproduce  it.     It  is  one  of  the  best  Lamb  ever  wrote  : — 

1  A  letter  from  G.  Dyer  will  probably  accompany  this. 
I  wish  I  could  convey  to  you  any  notion  of  the  whim- 
sical scenes  I  have  been  witness  to  in  this  fortnight  past. 
'Twas  on  Tuesday  week  the  poor  heathen  scrambled  up 
to  my  door  about  breakfast  time.  He  came  thro'  a  violent 
rain  with  no  neckcloth  on,  and  a  beard  that  made  him  a 
spectacle  to  men  and  angels,  and  tap'd  at  the  door.  Mary 
open'd  it,  and  he  stood  stark  still  and  held  a  paper  in  his 
hand  importing  that  he  had  been  ill  with  fever.  He  either 
wouldn't  or  couldn't  speak  except  by  signs.  When  you 
went  to  comfort  him  he  put  his  hand  upon  his  heart  and 
shook  his  head,  and  told  us  his  complaint  lay  where  no 
medecine  could  reach  it.  I  was  dispatch'd  for  Dr.  Dale, 
Mr.  Phillips  of  St.  Paul's  Churchyard,  and  Mr.  Frend,  who 
is  to  be  his  executor.  George  solemnly  delivered  into 
Mr.  Frend's  hands  and  mine  an  old  burnt  preface  that  had 
been  in  the  fire,  with  injunctions  which  we  solemnly  vow'd 
to  obey  that  it  should  be  printed  after  his  death  with  his  last 
corrections,  and  that  some  account  should  be  given  to  the 
world  why  he  had  not  fulfill'd  his  engagement  with  sub- 
scribers. Having  done  this  and  borrow'd  two  guineas  of 
his  bookseller  1  (to  whom  he  imparted  in  confidence  that  he 

1  Phillips. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      53 

should  leave  a  great  many  loose  papers  behind  him  which 
would  only  want  methodising  and  arranging  to  prove  very 
lucrative  to  any  bookseller  after  his  death),  he  laid  himself 
down  on  my  bed  in  a  mood  of  complacent  resignation.  By 
the  aid  of  meat  and  drink  put  into  him  (for  I  all  along  sus- 
pected a  vacuum)  he  was  enabled  to  sit  up  in  the  evening, 
but  he  had  not  got  the  better  of  his  intolerable  fear  of 
dying ;  he  expressed  such  philosophic  indifference  in  his 
speech  and  such  frightened  apprehensions  in  his  physio- 
gnomy that  if  he  had  truly  been  dying,  and  I  had  known 
it,  I  could  not  have  kept  my  countenance.  In  particular, 
when  the  doctor  came  and  ordered  him  to  take  little  white 
powders  (I  suppose  of  chalk  or  alum,  to  humour  him)  he 
ey'd  him  with  a  suspicion  which  I  could  not  account  for ; 
he  has  since  explained  that  he  took  it  for  granted  Dr.  Dale 
knew  his  situation  and  had  ordered  him  these  powders  to 
hasten  his  departure  that  he  might  suffer  as  little  pain  as 
possible.  Think  what  an  aspect  the  heathen  put  on  with 
these  fears  upon  a  dirty  face.  To  recount  all  his  freaks  for 
two  or  three  days  while  he  thought  he  was  going,  and  how 
the  fit  operated,  and  sometimes  the  man  got  uppermost,  and 
sometimes  the  author,  and  he  had  this  excellent  person  to 
serve,  and  he  must  correct  some  proof  sheets  for  Phillips, 
and  he  could  not  bear  to  leave  his  subscribers  unsatisfy'd, 
but  he  must  not  think  of  these  things  now,  he  was  going  to 
a  place  where  he  should  satisfy  all  his  debts — and  when 
he  got  a  little  better  be  began  to  discourse  what  a  happy 
thing  it  would  be  if  there  was  a  place  where  all  good  men 
and  women  in  the  world  might  meet,  meaning  heav'n,  and 
I  really  believe  for  a  time  he  had  doubts  about  his  soul,  for 
he  was  very  near,  if  not  quite,  light-headed.  The  fact  was 
he  had  not  had  a  good  meal  for  some  days  and  his  little 
dirty  Neice  (whom  he  sent  for  with  a  still  dirtier  Nephew, 
and  hugg'd  him,  and  bid  them  farewell)  told  us  that  unless 
he  dines  out  he  subsists  on  tea  and  gruels.  And  he  corro- 
borated this  tale  by  ever  and  anon  complaining  of  sensations 
of  gnawing  which  he  felt  about  his  heart,  which  he  mistook  his 
stomach  to  be,  and  sure  enough  these  gnawings  were  dissi- 


54     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

pated  after  a  meal  or  two,  and  he  surely  thinks  that  he  has 
been  rescued  from  the  jaws  of  death  by  Dr.  Dale's  white 
powders.  He  is  got  quite  well  again  by  nursing,  and  chirps 
odes  and  lyric  poetry  the  day  long — he  is  to  go  out  of  town 
on  Monday,  and  with  him  goes  the  dirty  train  of  his  papers 
and  books  which  follow'd  him  to  our  house.  I  shall  not  be 
sorry  when  he  takes  his  nipt  carcase  out  of  my  bed,  which 
it  has  occupied,  and  vanishes  with  all  his  Lyric  lumber,  but 
I  will  endeavour  to  bring  him  in  future  into  a  method  of 
dining  at  least  once  a  day.  I  have  proposed  to  him  to  dine 
with  me  (and  he  has  nearly  come  into  it)  whenever  he  does 
not  go  out  ;  and  pay  me.  I  will  take  his  money  beforehand 
and  he  shall  eat  it  out.  If  I  don't  it  will  go  all  over  the 
world.  Some  worthless  relations,  of  which  the  dirty  little 
devil  that  looks  after  him  and  a  still  more  dirty  nephew, 
are  component  particles,  I  have  reason  to  think  divide  all 
his  gains  with  some  lazy  worthless  authors  that  are  his  con- 
stant satellites.  The  Literary  Fund  has  voted  him  season- 
ably £20  and  if  I  can  help  it  he  shall  spend  it  on  his  own 
carcase.  I  have  assisted  him  in  arranging  the  remainder 
of  what  he  calls  Poems  and  he  will  get  rid  of  'em  I  hope  in 
another.  .  .  .  [Here  three  lines  are  lost  in  which  Lamb  makes 
a  transition  to  George  Burnett.] 

'  I  promised  Burnet  to  write  when  his  parcel  went.  He 
wants  me  to  certify  that  he  is  more  awake  than  you  think 
him.  I  believe  he  may  be  by  this  time,  but  he  is  so  full  of 
self-opinion  that  I  fear  whether  he  and  Phillips  will  ever 
do  together.  What  he  is  to  do  for  Phillips  he  whimsically 
seems  to  consider  more  as  a  favor  done  to  P.  than  a  job 
from  P.  He  still  persists  to  call  employment  dependence, 
and  prates  about  the  insolence  of  booksellers  and  the  tax 
upon  geniuses.  Poor  devil !  he  is  not  launched  upon  the 
ocean  and  is  sea-sick  with  aforethought.  I  write  plainly 
about  him,  and  he  would  stare  and  frown  finely  if  he  read 
this  treacherous  epistle,  but  I  really  am  anxious  about 
him,  and  that  nettles  me  to  see  him  so  proud  and  so  help- 
less. If  he  is  not  serv'd  he  will  never  serve  himself.  I 
read  his  long  letter  to  Southey,  which  I  suppose  you  have 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      55 

seen.  He  had  better  have  been  furnishing  copy  for  Phillips 
than  luxuriating  in  tracing  the  causes  of  his  imbecillity. 
I  believe  he  is  a  little  wrong  in  not  ascribing  more  to  the 
structure  of  his  own  mind.  He  had  his  yawns  from  nature, 
his  pride  from  education. 

'  I  hope  to  see  Southey  soon,  so  I  need  only  send  my 
remembrances  to  him  now.  Doubtless  I  need  not  tell  him 
that  Burnett  is  not  to  be  foster 'd  in  self-opinion.  His  eyes 
want  opening,  to  see  himself  a  man  of  middling  stature. 
I  am  not  oculist  enough  to  do  this.  The  booksellers  may 
one  day  remove  the  film.  I  am  all  this  time  on  the  most 
cordial  supping  terms  of  amity  with  G.  Burnett  and  really 
love  him  at  times  :  but  I  must  speak  freely  of  people  behind 
their  backs  and  not  think  it  back-biting.  It  is  better  than 
Godwin's  way  of  telling  a  man  he  is  a  fool  to  his  face. 

1 1  think  if  you  could  do  anything  for  George  in  the  way 
of  an  office  (God  knows  whether  you  can  in  any  haste, 
but  you  talk  of  it)  it  is  my  firm  belief  that  it  would  be  his 
only  chance  of  settlement ;  he  will  never  five  by  his  literary 
exertions,  as  he  calls  them — he  is  too  proud  to  go  the 
usual  way  to  work  and  he  has  no  talents  to  make  that  way 
unnecessary.  I  know  he  talks  big  in  his  letter  to  Southey 
that  his  mind  is  undergoing  an  alteration  and  that  the  die 
is  now  casting  that  shall  consign  him  to  honor  or  dis- 
honour, but  these  expressions  are  the  convulsions  of  a 
fever,  not  the  sober  workings  of  health.  Translated  into 
plain  English,  he  now  and  then  perceives  he  must  work 
or  starve,  and  then  he  thinks  he  '11  work  ;  but  when  he 
goes  about  it  there  's  a  lion  in  the  way.  He  came  dawdling 
to  me  for  an  Encyclopaedia  yesterday.  I  recommended 
him  to  Norris'  library  and  he  said  if  he  could  not  get  it 
there,  Phillips  was  bound  to  furnish  him  with  one ;  it  was 
Phillips'  interest  to  do  so  and  all  that.  This  was  true  with 
some  restrictions — but  as  to  Phillips'  interests  to  oblige 
G.  B.  !  Lord  help  his  simple  head  !  P.  could  by  a  whistle 
call  together  a  host  of  such  authors  as  G.  B.  like  Robin 
Hood's  merry  men  in  green.  P.  has  regular  regiments  in 
pay.     Poor  writers  are  his  crab-lice  and  suck  at  him  for 


56     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

nutriment.     His   round  pudding  chops   are  their   idea  of 
plenty  when  in  their  idle  fancies  they  aspire  to  be  rich. 

'  What  do  you  think  of  a  life  of  G.  Dyer  ?  I  can  scarcely 
conceive  a  more  amusing  novel.  He  has  been  connected 
with  all  sects  in  the  world  and  he  will  faithfully  tell  all  he 
knows.  Every  body  will  read  it  ;  and  if  it  is  not  done 
according  to  my  fancy  I  promise  to  put  him  in  a  novel 
when  he  dies.  Nothing  shall  escape  me.  If  you  think 
it  feasible,  whenever  you  write  you  may  encourage  him. 
Since  he  has  been  so  close  with  me  I  have  perceiv'd  the 
workings  of  his  inordinate  vanity,  his  gigantic  attention 
to  particles  and  to  prevent  open  vowels  in  his  odes,  his 
solicitude  that  the  public  may  not  lose  any  tittle  of  his 
poems  by  his  death,  and  all  the  while  his  utter  ignorance 
that  the  world  don't  care  a  pin  about  his  odes  and  his 
criticisms,  a  fact  which  every  body  knows  but  himself — he 
is  a  rum  genius.  C.  L.' 

This  letter  shows  Lamb's  solicitude  for  his  '  ragged 
regiment  '  of  friends.  That  Burnett  should  have  won 
his  affection  is  sufficient  proof  that  G.  B.  was  not  without 
many  good  qualities.  He  was  at  this  time  working  for 
Phillips  upon  Dr.  Mavor's  Universal  History,  which  appeared 
in  1802 — a  dull  enough  compilation  in  some  twenty  volumes. 
The  date  of  Lamb's  letter  which  Mr.  Lucas  gives  as  '  ?  Nov.' 
is  approximately  settled  by  Rickman's  letter  of  November  7 
(quoted  below)  enclosing  it  to  Sou  they  x  together  with  the 
letter  from  George  Dyer  which  Lamb  mentions  as  about 
to  accompany  his  own.  Dyer's  letter  has  been  preserved, 
and  is  interesting  from  the  fact  that  no  private  letters 
from  the  incomparable  G.  D.  have  ever  been  published. 
Southey  had  left  Dublin  to  attend  Mr.  Corry  in  London, 
and  had  doubtless  shown  to  Rickman  the  foolish  letter 
written  by  Burnett,  who  had  a  mania  for  bursting  out 
into  tirades  against  his  friends,  especially  Southey,  for 
not  making  a  better  man  of  him.     Similar  outbursts  to 

1  Southey  must  have  sent  the  letter  on  to  Wordsworth,  in  whose  posses- 
sion it  remained. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      57 

Rickman,  as  we  shall  see,  brought  down  thunder  upon  his 
head  in  a  very  short  time.  His  metaphysical  essay  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  published. 


•  Dublin  Castle, 
'  Saturday  Night,  Novr.  7th,  1801. 

'  I  have  just  received  yours,  from  whence  I  gladly  hear 
of  your  arrival  in  town.  Your  letter  has  arrived  at  a 
most  awkward  time  for  the  immediate  and  solid  answer, 
since  the  next  post  goes  not  till  Monday  night,  and  it  is  too 
late  to  procure  English  notes  for  transmissal.  You  would 
think  me  a  little  tardy  in  not  being  prepared  ;  but  I  had 
good  reason  for  not  moving  in  this  business  till  necessary, 
since  the  exchange  has  been  constantly  more  and  more 
favourable,  and  I  expect  to  transmit  to  you  at  9|  instead  of 
13|,  which  I  believe  you  paid.  This  will  be  40/  in  the  small 
sum  to  be  sent.  You  know  8|  is  par  :  and  we  are  now 
exporting  beef  and  corn  so  fast  that  it  will  be  there  soon. 
That  you  will  be  idle  enough,  i.e.  that  you  will  have  much 
time  at  your  own  disposal  under  Mr.  Corry,  I  did  and  do 
believe — but  I  retract  the  idea  I  held  about  the  non-existence 
of  your  office  in  peace,  I  have  now  cause  almost  to  know  the 
contrary.  Be  that  as  it  may,  so  much  the  better  for  you  and 
also  so  much  the  better  for  me.  I  like  head  work  well,  so 
that  somebody  follows  science  for  me  ;  that  is  Irish  science  ; 
for  I  should  be  itching  after  some  literary  memory  and 
tokens  and  monuments  of  the  present  Administration  here, 
if  I  were  alone,  and  perhaps  itching  in  vain  from  over-much 
occupation,  but  if  you  will  take  care  of  that  part  of  the 
business,  I  shall  work  on  as  comfortably  and  steadily  as  the 
dullest  dray-horse.  I  have  had  divers  letters  from  London 
since  your  departure,  part  of  one  packet  I  have  remitted  to 
you,  and  with  this  you  receive  the  rest  of  it,  except  a  letter 
of  ineffable  absurdity  from  G.  B.  to  J.  R.  Lamb  will  shew 
you  an  extract  speciminis  ergo.  The  joke  was  going  too  far, 
and  I  have  endeavoured  to  cure  the  man's  insanity  by  a 
paper  containing  horse  medicine  :  coarse  in  itself  and  rather 


58     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

caustic,  but  (as  you  say  of  cod-fish)  a  good  substratum  for 
medicaments  of  the  best  kind  which  you  must  administer. 
In  his  answer  it  seems  that  he  still  reveres  honesty — a  good 
symptom.  When  you  read  his  essay — P.  25 — push  him 
once  and  again  upon  the  consequences  of  that  page  :  it 
contains  the  metaphysical  gradations  to  determined  villainy, 
stopping  short  of  the  mark  which  the  writer  could  not  see  to. 
Nevertheless  I  am  vexed  that  I  cannot  oppose  anything  to 
such  arguments,  but  the  old,  true  observation — "  By  their 
fruits  shall  ye  know  them."  If  you  can  quash  them  better, 
and  a  priori,  I  reckon  it  a  serious  good.  I  send  you  herewith 
what  I  much  value  ;  a  letter  from  Lamb  of  exquisite,  per- 
haps unparallelled  description  ;  and  of  an  interesting  affair  ; 
literally  and  seriously,  of  G.  Dyer  starving  to  death  and 
rescued  from  that  ruefull  fate  by  the  said  C.  Lamb.  What 
strange  men  do  we  know  !  Dyer  who  can  starve  to  death, 
without  knoiving  it,  Lamb  who  can  rescue  him,  and  enjoy  it 
as  a  joke,  and  Burnet  of  whom  no  mortal  can  make  any 
thing  :  certainly  most  unaccountable  of  all.  The  Goule  also 
must  be  put  on  your  list  of  remarkables  ;  he  is  high  on  mine. 
If  you  see  him  not  at  Lamb's,  call  at  the  Cockpit  ;  if  the 
Population  gentry  are  at  work  ask  for  Mr.  Beaumont — and 
say  who  you  are.  If  you  converse  with  him  three  minutes, 
and  in  casting  round  your  eyes  in  pursuit  of  ugliness  you  do 
not  detect  Simmonds,  I  pronounce  you  have  no  taste  or  nose 
for  Goules.  .  .  . 

'  G.  Dyer's  letter  lyes  before  me  ;  I  must  send  it,  garnished 
with  mischievous  scrawls.  Give  my  compts.  to  Burnet — the 
writer  of  his  own  times — and  tell  him  that  his  essay  is, 
mejudice,  very  good  in  choice  of  words,  though  tinged  with 
what  my  brutal  taste  calls  modern  jargon.  That  it  is 
commonplace,  but  very  good  commonplace — and  that  I 
doubt  no  part  of  his  ability  to  write  his  Introduction  or 
future  history,  except  his  industry  and  perseverance — of 
which  no  one  can  pronounce,  as  Solon  I  think  said,  before 
the  end.  That  I  have  reced.  his  last  letter,  and  am  well 
pleased  with  it,  though  I  think  he  ought  to  have  been  a  little 
more  angry,  finally  that  I  wish  him  well.' 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     59 

Here  is  Dyer's  letter.     The  exclamations  in  parentheses 
are  in  Rickman's  hand. 

'Dear  Sir, — I  am  much  obliged  by  your  favour,  and 
ought  to  have  replied  sooner,  tho'  indeed  I  have  been  lately 
so  unwell,  that  I  have  been  obliged  to  lay  aside  attention  to 
letter  writing.  Yes,  I  have  had  a  fever,  and  have  been  this 
fortnight  past  the  guest,  night  and  day  with  our  good  friend 
Charles  Lamb  ;  his  sister  has  been  my  kind  nurse,  and  by 
help  of  her,  and  a  physician  I  am  brought  right  again.  How 
dare  you  call  me  a  railer  at  all  Governments  ?  (Exquisite 
George  ! ! ! )  My  opinion  is,  I  think  both  modest  and  generous, 
viz.  :  that  some  govern  too  much,  and  too  much  govern- 
ment, sooner  or  later,  defeats  its  own  purposes,  and  brings 
on  troubles.  Rulers  therefore  should  be  taught  moderation  ; 
and  should  understand,  that  if  their  interest,  and  the  interest 
of  the  people  are  not  the  same,  they  are,  so  far,  not  standing 
on  good  and  solid  ground.  I  am  glad  you  find  employment, 
that  you  like,  and  I  most  heartily  wish  you  could  find  some 
for  Burnett.  I  begin  very  much  to  fear  ;  from  what  Lamb 
says,  that  he  will  succeed  but  poorly  in  authorship,  for  it  is 
not  for  every  one,  even  of  talents,  to  live  by  authorship 
(climax  here)  ;  and  Burnett  will  not  engage  in  tuition.  In 
short,  Rickman,  I  fear,  if  you  do  not  stand  his  friend  he  is 
likely  to  fare  but  ill.  I  can  render  him,  I  fear,  no  service. 
His  objects  are  out  of  my  sight,  and  his  wishes  are  beyond 
my  reach.  The  truth  is  I  can,  now,  render  nobody  any 
service,  and  must  confine  my  attention  to  a  very  few 
subjects,  and  a  very  few  persons  :  I  shall  be  obliged  to  do  so, 
as  well  from  the  weak  state  of  my  health,  as  from  my  total 
inability  ;  much  seclusion,  little  company,  and  few  anxieties 
I  am  determined  to  seek  after,  as  the  only  means,  that  can 
now  make  me  tolerably  easy  or  render  an  existence  for  a  few 
years  either  probable  or  desirable.  So  among  other  cases  of 
distress  I  must  give  up  Burnett,  for,  I  fear  his  will  prove  one 
case  of  distress  (G.  Dyer  still),  unless  you  can  find  him  some 
snug  birth  in  Ireland  ;  you  know  the  man.  If  I  could 
render  him  service  I  should  be  happy  :    but  things  that  I 


60      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

proposed  to  him  he  disapproves,  and  therefore  I  entreat  you 
to  think  of  him,  for  he  seems  to  me  to  possess  some  good 
qualities  (G.  Dyer  again),  and  if  you  could  serve  him,  I 
think  you  would  have  no  reason  to  accuse  your  own  humanity 
only  to  cause  you  folly.  I  intend  to  have  two  volumes  of 
poems  out  in  the  winter,  and  I  hope  they  will  be  more 
readable,  and  appear  in  a  more  agreeable  form,  than  my 
last,  smaller  size,  better  print,  and  paper,  than  the  first. 
I  shall  always  be  very  happy  to  hear  from  you.  This  is 
one  of  the  first  letters  I  have  written  this  fortnight ;  for 
Charles  Lambe  (I  have  not  been  able  to  write  myself)  has 
been  condescending  enough  to  be  my  scribe.  So  I  may  say, 
see  how  large  a  letter  I  have  written  with  my  own  hand. — 
Yrs.  truly,  G.  Dyer. 

'P.S.  Lamb  and  sister  unite  in  good  wishes.  Having 
filled  my  letter,  I  am  obliged  to  make  an  odd  bundle  of  a 
letter  to  put  under  cover  to  an  M.P. — I  intended  to  have 
written  to  R.  Southey,  by  this  conveyance,  but  was  not  sure 
he  was  with  you  ;  and,  indeed,  he  has  been  travelling  so 
about,  that  I  never  knew  where  I  could  send  to  him  with 
safety.  I  owe  him  a  letter,  which  I  shall  be  happy  to  pay 
him  :  have  however  written  full  enough  for  me  at  present/ 

The  letter  from  Burnett  to  Rickman  must  have  arrived 
late  in  October  or  early  in  November,  for  in  a  short,  undated 
letter  to  Rickman  Lamb  alludes  to  his  having  received 
Rickman's  extract  from  it — a  demand  for  a  place  at  six 
weeks'  notice — and  takes  upon  himself  the  blame  of  having 
so  addressed  the  packet  that  it  cost  Rickman  seventeen 
shillings,  a  fact  which  added  considerably  to  the  latter's  in- 
dignation. In  this  letter  Lamb  says  that  Southey  is  not 
arrived,  which  dates  his  own  letter  before  November  7, 
though  Canon  Ainger  has  wrongly  printed  it  after  Lamb's  of 
November  24.  A  postscript  to  this  same  letter  speaks  of 
having  received  '  this  moment '  a  packet  for  Southey — 
probably  the  letter  quoted  above.  If  so,  Lamb's  undated 
letter  certainly  should  be  dated  November  9  or  10.     As  we 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      61 

shall  see,  Rickman's  ire  had  also  been  roused  by  accounts  of 
Burnett's  laziness  over  the  population  business,  and  this, 
added  to  the  fact  that  he  received  Burnett's  letter  after 
drinking  claret,  which  (as  he  says)  always  put  him  in  a  bad 
humour,  seems  to  have  produced  a  downright  anathema  for 
poor  Burnett,  in  which  he  was  cruelly  informed  that  both 
Rickman  and  Southey  considered  him  a  mediocrity.  In 
his  letter  of  November  24  Lamb  says  he  has  seen  this 
'  rouzing  '  letter,  and  deprecates  its  harshness,  while  bowing 
to  Rickman's  better  judgment.  Southey's  first  letter  from 
town,  in  which  he  begins  by  humorously  describing  his 
duties,1  which  he  obviously  found  trivial  and  vexatious, 
makes  no  allusion  to  Rickman's  '  horse  medicine,'  for  he 
proceeds  : — 

'Nov.  20th,  1801. 
' .  .  .  Burnett's  essay  may  be  entitled  Much  Ado  About 
Nothing.  It  is  well  written  in  its  way,  but  a  damned  ugly 
long  way  it  is.  These  metaphysicians  tease  me — wire  spin- 
ning and  gold  beating  their  meaning — they  have  to  tell  you 
the  amount  of  ten  times  ten — they  take  an  hour  in  getting 
at  the  sum  unit  by  unit.  I  am  sorry  you  did  not  see  his 
letter  to  me.  That  is  curious.  It  is  the  history  of  his  own 
mind — the  out-blaze  of  a  vanity  that  has  been  smoking 
under  green  weeds  for  seven  good  years.  Written  with 
warmth  and  feeling,  for  the  subject  was  at  his  heart  and  in 
his  heart,  if  he  could  but  be  as  animated  by  anything  else — 
it  would  do.  A  fair  trial  of  the  trade  will  do  him  good. 
At  work  he  is,  and  where  no  great  despatch  is  needful  George 
can  work  as  well  as  any  of  Mr.  Phillips'  merry-men,  when  he 
has  found  out  that  his  metaphysics  are  not  saleable,  that  he 
has  not  quickness  enough  ever  to  acquire  much  knowledge, 
and  that  what  knowledge  he  has  is  not  ready  at  need,  then 
I  suppose  he  will  condescend  to  the  common  employment  of 
life.  Poor  fellow  !  he  would  think  himself  degraded  by 
giving  to  boys  the  elements  of  learning — and  yet  he  will 

1  The  first  part  (which  I  omit)  and  the  last  part  of  this  letter  are  pub- 
lished in  Lije  and  Correspondence  of  E.  S.,  ii.  174. 


62     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

write  for  Mr.  Phillips'  hire,  restricted  as  to  subject  and  even 
as  to  pages — and  under  Dr.  Mavor's  name  !  If  this  be  not 
great  straining  and  camel  swallowing  with  a  vengeance  ! — 
he  should  be  sowing  the  grain — and  he  will  be  making  the 
bread. 


EvprjKa.  Evpq/ca.  Evprj/ca. 
'  You  remember  your  heretical  proposition  de  Cambro- 
Britannis  that  the  principality  had  never  produced  and 
never  could  produce  a  great  man,  that  I  opposed  Owen 
Glendwr  and  Sir  Henry  Morgan  to  the  assertion  but  in  vain, 
but  I  have  found  the  Great  man — and  not  merely  the  Great 
man — the  Maximus  homo — the  /u,e<yio-To<;  avOpcoiros,  the 
fjueyiaTOTaro*; — we  must  create  a  super-superlative  to  reach 
the  idea  of  his  magnitude.  I  found  him  in  the  Strand — in 
a  shop  window — laudably  therein  exhibited  by  a  Cambro- 
Briton,  the  Engraver  represents  him  sitting  in  a  room — 
that  seems  to  be  of  a  cottage  or  at  best — a  farm — pen  in 
hand — eyes-uplifted,  and  underneath  is  inscribed, 

The  Cambrian  Shakespear. 

but  woe  is  me  for  my  ignorance — the  motto  that  followed 
surpassed  my  skill  in  language — tho'  it  doubtless  was  a 
delectable  morsel  from  that  Great  Welshman's  poems. 
You  must  however  allow  the  justice  of  the  name  given  him, 
for  all  his  writings  are  in  Welsh — and  the  Welshmen  say  he 
is  as  great  a  man  as  Shakespear,  and  they  must  know — 
because  they  can  understand  him.  I  enquired  what  might 
be  the  trivial  name  of  this  light  and  lustre  of  our  Dark  age — 
but  it  hath  escaped  me — only  that  it  meant,  being  interpreted 
either  Tom — a — Denbigh  or  some  such  everyday  baptismal 
denomination.  And  now  am  I  no  prophet  if  you  have  not 
before  you  have  arrived  thus  far  uttered  a  three-worded 
sentence  of  malediction.  .  .  . 

'  To-day  I  go  dine  with  Lord  Holland.     Wynn  1  is  inti- 

1  Southey's  friend,  C.  W.  Wynn,  M.P.,  who  became  President  of  the 
Board  of  Control  in  1822  in  Liverpool's  ministry. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      63 

mate  with  him  and  my  invitation  is  for  the  sake  of  Thalaba, 
the  sale  of  Thalaba  is  slow — about  300  only  gone. 

'  George  Dyer  has  just  been  here,  his  disorder  he  said 
required  a  violent  exertion  to  remedy  it.  Lamb  has  made  a 
perfect  cure.  Thank  you  for  that  nonpareil  letter.  Edith's 
remembrance. — Yours  truly,  R.  Southey.' 

This  letter  and  a  shorter  one,  saying  that  Corry  had  hinted 
to  Southey  that  he  might  write  the  history  of  the  war  in 
Egypt,  were  answered  by  Rickman  in  a  letter  of  November 
26. 

*  Dublin  Castle,  Now.  26th,  1801. 

*  I  am  glad  to  learn  by  yours  of  the  21st  inst.  that 
the  £40  arrived  safe.  The  packet  should  have  reached 
you  the  same  day,  and  I  suppose  did  so  the  next.  I  shall 
enquire  the  wherefore  of  the  delay.  In  the  meantime  I 
am  glad  I  sent  the  bill  under  a  distinct  cover,  and  put  it 
into  the  Post  Office  myself. 

'  I  am  amused  by  your  no-occupation,  and  am  well  pleased 
to  find  that  as  I  suspected  the  Chan.  Exchequer  seems 
to  intend  to  retain  you  for  purposes  much  to  your  taste. 
Were  I  asked  to  write  of  Egypt,  I  should  fear  that  the 
official  knowledge  is  rather  dry  and  uncircumstantial. 
However  Sir  Sydney  Smith  can  aid  you  much  if  he  chooses, 
having  (as  I  hear)  brought  over  with  him  a  copy  of  all  the 
orders  issued  by  Bonaparte  while  in  Egypt.  In  doing 
justice  to  all  parties,  I  do  not  think  you  will  have  occasion 
to  displease  Government ;  you  will  find  Bonaparte  rather 
worse  than  at  present  you  may  perhaps  suspect.  Have 
you  heard  of  his  slaughter  of  3500  Turks  at  Jaffa,  who 
had  surrendered  on  terms  ?  He  drew  them  up  in  a  fine 
opposite  to  his  armed  troops,  and  gave  the  word,  Charge 
Bayonet !  In  fact,  he  seems  something  between  Csesar 
and  Alexander  ;  without  the  follies  of  the  last,  and  (as 
I  think)  without  so  much  solidity  as  the  first.  Which  of 
the  three  be  the  greatest  rascal,  airopco  !  All  in  their  day 
the  enemies  of  mankind  ;    Caesar  and  Bonaparte  of  their 


64     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

own  country.  Remember  the  Deux-Tiers  affair ;  which 
first  raised  the  Frenchman  into  notice  ;  and  remember  his 
mean  avarice  of  fame  at  the  Bridge  of  Novi  and  at  Marengo. 
What  myriads  were  sacrificed  in  vain  of  those  to  whom 
he  was  military  parent  as  General !  For  management,  and 
good  fortune,  he  is  surely  eminent ;  whether  he  has  litera- 
ture, whether  he  likes  it,  or  whether  he  thinks  it  good 
policy  to  seem  to  like  it,  is  not  clear — I  suspect  the  last — 
but  you  know  how  much  I  detest  the  French — I  should 
hold  the  scales  dangerously.  Thank  you  for  the  Welsh- 
man, whom  I  commend  to  your  better  acquaintance,  you 
must  now  learn  Welsh  of  course,  and  translate  his  plays. 
Your  picture  of  G.  Burnett  is  very  just.  I  am  quite  sick 
of  him,  longer  connection  naturally  keeps  him  nearer  you, 
and  I  should  be  sorry  he  were  quite  deserted.  Additional 
to  his  silly  letter  (a  place  at  six  weeks  notice)  the  same 
post  brought  me  a  letter  of  information  about  him,  for 
which  I  had  laid  a  train.  As  you  have  now  learnt  surely, 
I  may  tell  you  here.  I  left  him  a  trifling  task — ruling 
certain  lines  in  the  Population  books,  merely  to  try  his 
power  of  attention  to  anything  like  a  fixed  task.  The 
unlucky  wight  who  was  to  write  in  the  said  lines  suffered 
for  this,  forced  to  go  for  the  sheets  one  by  one,  to  urge  the 
gentleman  daily  for  supply,  sometimes  finding  him  in  bed 
at  One,  at  other  times  at  a  stand  on  a  plea  of  wanting  ink, 
and  finally  by  necessity  the  task  thrown  up  in  despair  ! 
A  good  specimen  of  activity  in  business.  I  have  done  with 
him. 

'  I  wish  I  could  lend  you  all  I  ever  knew  or  thought  about 
the  subjects  which  you  are  to  perpend.1  There  is  some- 
thing about  most  of  them  in  that  Magazine,2  which  Lamb 
can  lend  you.  I  believe  I  can  even  rummage  out  some  MS. 
on  the  subject,  2  or  3  years  old.  In  your  next  (if  you  think 
of  it)  tell  me  whether  that  publication  goes  on.  I  suppose 
not  at  all,  or  most  vilely.  Tell  Lamb  I  want  to  hear  from 
him,  and  of  his  play.     I  shall  receive  money  enough  (from 

1  Corry  had  told  him  to  read  up  corn  law,  finance,  and  tythes. 

2  Edited  by  Rickman  in  1800. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      65 

the  Population  business)  soon,  and  he  may  draw  largely 
on  that  projected  publication.  Though  as  a  flay  (in  the 
abstract)  it  is  not  good,  there  is  much  too  good  to  be  lost 
in  it,  besides  I  wish  to  give  the  world  one  more  chance  of 
shewing  taste.' 

Southey  meanwhile  had  written  again.1 

'  25  Bridge  Street, 
'Westminster,  November  27,  1801. 

1  My  dear  Rickman, — This  morning  I  called  on  Burnett, 
whom  I  found  recovering  from  a  bilious  flux  and  in  the 
action  of  folding  up  a  letter  designed  for  you.  He  then 
for  the  first  time  shewed  me  your  letter  and  his  reply.  I 
perceived  that  the  provoking  blunder  in  Lamb's  direction 
affected  the  tone  of  yours,  and  that  the  seventeen  shillings- 
worth  of  anger  fell  upon  George.  Your  caustic  was  too 
violent :  it  eat  thro'  the  proud  flesh,  but  it  has  also  wounded 
the  feeling  and  healthy  part  below.  The  letter  which  I 
have  suppressed  was  in  the  same  stile  as  his  last.  I  pre- 
vailed on  him  to  lay  it  up  in  his  desk,  because  it  was  no 
use  showing  you  the  wound  you  had  inflicted,  and  your 
time  would  be  better  anyhow  employed  than  in  reading 
full  pages  that  were  not  written  with  the  design  of  giving 
pleasure.  That  your  phrases  were  too  harsh  I  think,  and 
Lamb  and  Mary  Lamb  think  also  'twas  a  horse  medicine — 
a  cruel  doze  of  yellow  gamboodge. 

'  What  I  foresaw — or  rather  hoped  would  take  place  is 
now  going  on  in  him.  He  begins  to  discover  that  hackney- 
ing authorship  is  not  the  way  to  be  great,  to  allow  that 
six  hours  writing  in  a  public  office  is  better  than  the  same 
number  of  hours  labour  for  a  fat  publisher,  that  it  is  more 
certain,  less  toilsome,  quite  as  respectable.  I  have  even 
prevailed  on  him  to  attend  to  his  hand-writing,  on  the 
possibility  of  some  such  happy  appointment,  and  doubt 
not  ere  long  to  convince  him,  in  his  own  way,  of  the  moral 
fitness  of  writing  straight  lines  and  distinct  letters  accord- 

1  Selections  from  the  Letters  of  R.  S.,  i.  181-183. 
E 


66      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

ing  to  all  the  laws  of  mind.  He  wishes  to  get  a  tutor's 
place.  In  my  judgment  a  clerk's  would  suit  him  better, 
for  its  permanence.  Nothing  like  experience  !  He  would 
not  think  its  duties  beneath  him,  and  if  he  were  so  set  at 
ease  from  the  daily  bread  and  cheese  anxieties  that  would 
disorder  a  more  healthy  intellect  than  his,  I  believe  that 
passion  for  distinction  which  haunts  him,  would  make 
him,  in  the  opinion  of  the  world,  the  booksellers  and  himself, 
a  very  pretty  historian — quite  as  good  as  any  of  the  Scotch 
breed.  It  puzzles  me  how  he  has  learnt  to  sound  his  sen- 
tences so  ear-tickingly.  He  has  never  rough-hewn  any- 
thing, but  he  finishes  like  a  first  journey-man. 

'  Write  to  him  some  day,  and  lay  on  an  emollient  plaister, 
it  would  heal  him,  and  comfort  him.  A  very  active  man 
we  shall  never  have,  but  as  active  as  nature  will  let  him 
he  will  soon  be,  and  quite  enough  for  daily  official  work. 
If  you  could  set  him  in  the  land  of  potatoes  we  should,  I 
believe  in  conscience  see  the  Historian  of  the  Twelve  Caesars 
become  a  great  man.  A  more  improbable  prophecy  of 
mine  about  the  wretched  Alfred  has  been  fulfilled. 

'  Mr.  Corry  and  I  have  met  once  since  my  last,  and  no 
mention  was  made  about  Egypt.  The  silence  satisfied 
me  because  Portugal  is  a  better  and  far  more  suitable 
subject.  It  is  odd  that  he  has  never  asked  me  to  dine  with 
him,  and  not  quite  accordant  with  his  general  courtliness 
of  conduct.  Seeing  little  of  him  I  have  not  formed  so 
high  an  opinion  of  his  talents  or  information  as  you  had 
led  me  to  conceive.  Doubtless  in  his  own  department 
he  possesses  both,  but  on  all  other  ground  I  am  the  better 
traveller,  and  he  hardly  knows  the  turnpike  when  I  have 
beat  thro'  all  the  byways  and  windings  and  cross  roads. 
I  found  it  expedient  to  send  him  my  sundry  books  in  com- 
pliance with  a  hint  to  that  effect.  He  called  to  thank  me, 
and  this  dropping  a  card  has  been  the  extent  of  my  per- 
sonal and  avoidable  civility.  To  my  great  satisfaction  I 
have  entire  leisure — that  is  to  my  present  comfort — for  it 
does  not  promise  much  for  the  future.  .  .  .  The  Magazine 
exists,  I  certify  its  existence  having  seen  one  for  this  month 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      67 

in  a  window.  The  spirit  having  left  it  I  suspect  Vampirism 
in  its  present  life. 

1  Coleridge  is  in  town,1  you  should  commute  your  Star 
for  the  Morning  Post,  in  which  you  will  see  good  things 
from  him,  and  such  occasional  verses  as  I  may  happen  to 
execute.  The  Anthology  is  revivescent  under  the  eye  of 
blind  Tobin,2  to  whom  all  the  honour  and  glory  and  papers 
are  transferred.  There  will  be  enough  of  the  old  leaven 
to  keep  up  the  family  likeness  to  its  half-brothers.  Madoc 
is  on  the  anvil — slow  and  sure.  I  expect  my  Portugal 
paper  this  evening  with  my  Mother  and  shall  return  with 
new  appetite  to  my  dear  old  folios. 

'  The  letter  to  which  you  referred  in  your  money-letter 
as  directed  here,  never  arrived.  You  who  have  the  Great 
Seal  at  command  had  better  always  write  straight,  and 
do  give  Burnett  a  line — your  letter  was  too  hard — and 
you  would  do  a  kind  action  by  easing  him  of  resentment.' 

The  offer  of  money  which  Rickman  made  to  Lamb 
through  Southey  was  again  refused  in  an  undated  letter, 
the  sixth  in  the  collection  of  Lamb's  letters  to  him.  It 
tells  of  George  Dyer's  dining  regularly  with  Lamb  and 
bringing  his  shilling  ;  of  Burnett  being  '  much  reduced,' 
and  Coleridge's  recommendation  of  him  to  the  editor  of 
the  Morning  Post,  on  which  Lamb  also  hoped  to  get 
work  ;  of  Southey  and  the  impending  death  of  his  mother  ; 
and  of  Lamb's  friends  Godwin,  Fenwick,  and  Fell. 

On  December  5  a  short  note  from  Rickman  to  Southey 
shows  that  he  appreciated  the  humours  of  the  Irish.  He 
announces  that  he  has  just  read  Castle  Rackrent,  and  '  can 
I  be  aisy  again  at  all  at  all  till  I  have  put  all  my  friends  in 
possession  of  a  bit  of  the  bog  of  Allybalry-carrickoshaughlin? ' 
He  asks  Southey  to  order  six  copies,  four  to  be  given  to 
his  cousin  Beaumont,  one  to  Lamb,  and  one  to  Southey's 

1  Coleridge  was  in  London  from  November  15  till  Christmas. 

*  Of  Clifford's  Inn,  friend  of  Lamb  and  Coleridge.  His  brother  was  a 
dramatist.  Lamb  refers  to  him  in  his  essay  '  Thoughts  on  Books  and 
Reading.' 


68      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

mother.  He  announces  having  written  a  penitent  letter 
to  Burnett,  and  ends  :  *  I  wrote  to  Lamb  the  other  day, 
and  am  quite  pleased  to  think  I  have  been  accessory  to 
the  regeneration  and  first  edition  of  my  noble  Margaret 
(the  heroine  of  John  Woodvil).  I  shall  be  desperately 
in  love  when  I  meet  her  counterpart.'  In  a  second  note 
he  writes  : — 

'  Under  a  trivial  Irish  name  of  a  place,  Mr.  A.  has 
detected  an  Etymology  which  would  enliven  a  whole  page 
of  any  dull  Etymologic  :  Magnum. 

'  The  Gentry  about  Dublin  are  in  the  habit  of  calling  their 
country  seats  by  outlandish  names.  Hence  we  have 
Marino,  Bellevue,  Casino,  etc.  in  the  neighbourhood. 
In  this  taste  a  gentleman  building  a  new  house  towards 
Drogheda  christened  it — Bel-re  tiro. 

'  I  charge  you  to  pause  three  full  minutes  before  you  turn 
over  ;  and  guess  at  its  present  trivial  Irish  name. 

BALLYRUDDERY. 

300  Copies. 

Chear  thee,  Chear  thee,  Thalaba. 
A  little  yet  hold  on. 


Criticum  Britannicum  ipse  vidi. 
Splash  !     Splash  !     Splash  ! 

<  J.  R.' 

Southey's  answer  soon  followed. 

'Friday,  December  11,  1801. 

'  Yesterday  (the  day  after  your  letterling  reached  me) 
I  journeyed  to  Johnson's  for  my  friend  Thady.1  You 
were  mistaken  in  supposing  I  could  get  them  at  the  trade 

1  Thady  Quirk,  the  narrator  of  the  story  in  Castle  Rackrent,  which  Miss 
Edgeworth  published  anonymously. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      69 

price.  I  cannot  even  get  my  own  books  without  paying 
the  full  charge.  There  were  no  copies  ready — else  I  should 
have  dropt  one  with  Mary  Lamb,  and  introduced  myself  to 
Mr.  Beaumont  with  the  others.  Of  course  they  will  arrive 
to-day. 

'  Mr.  Corry  has  found  out  an  employment  for  me — to 
go  with  him  and  his  son  to  Walker's  lectures — and  sit  two 
hours  every  other  morning  hearing  what  I  have  known 
God  knows  how  long. 

'  Burnett  has  a  situation  which  he  cannot  keep  !  It  is 
only  to  make  up  matter  for  the  Courier  from  the  French 
papers  and  from  Peltier's  *  Paris,  after  the  news  has  been 
taken  from  them,  mere  child's  work  :  for  two  or  three 
columns  a  week  he  receives  a  guinea  and  a  half  while  on 
trial,  two  guineas  if  he  continues  ;  his  sawneying  and  un- 
teachable  indolence  almost  surpasses  belief.  He  is  totter- 
ing now  in  Coleridge's  leading  strings.  I  know  not  what 
can  become  of  him.  He  is  in  deep  water,  and  will  neither 
strike  out  hand  or  foot  to  save  himself.  Bless  the  news- 
papers !  Lamb  also  has  an  engagement  with  the  Morning 
Post.  He  will  be  eminently  useful  there,  and  will  I  doubt 
not  make  it  a  permanent  source  of  income.  .  .  . 

'  London  robs  me  of  all  leisure.  One  calls  and  another 
calls,  and  if  I  have  not  those  interruptions,  the  incon- 
venience of  one  only  sitting-room  effectually  prevents 
continuous  attention  to  any  subject.  At  the  year's  end 
I  shall  not  be  richer  than  if  this  connection  with  the  Irish 
Chancellor  had  not  existed.  True  that  the  salary  is  gained 
without  effort,  and  so  much  exertion  saved,  should  be 
accounted  gain ;  with  the  year  it  must  end,  and  my  ulti- 
mate gain  will  be  what  little  knowledge  of  Ireland  may  be 
acquired  in  the  next  visit ;  it  is  worth  a  year's  hard  travel- 
ling to  see  a  floating  Island. 

'  Thanks  for  the  etymology  ! 


1  A  French  refugee  who  edited  a  paper  called  Paris  in  London.  His 
attacks  on  Napoleon  were  made  a  subject  of  complaint  by  the  Emperor  to 
the  British  Government. 


70      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

'  I  enclose  a  second  note  with  great  pleasure — to  an- 
nounce the  real  and  true  second  birth  of  George  Burnett. 
He  has  found  out  his  blunder,  and  actually  discovered  to 
his  own  downright  conviction,  that  he  is  not  fit  for  an 
author.     His  eyes  are  opened  upon  his  own  ignorance. 

'  Conveniently  I  believe  that  he  is  enough  awake  now 
to  discharge  the  manual  duties  of  any  situation  in  which 
you  could  place  him.  Do  not  now  curse  him  for  the  re- 
collection of  the  Cock-pit,  for  that  recollection  has  risen 
in  him  like  an  evil  conscience.  For  George  Burnett  I  have 
an  habitual  feeling  of  affection,  as  you  know  they  have 
never  blinded  me  to  his  faults.  I  will  make  a  report  of  his 
progress  in  the  next  week.  Think  of  him  in  any  but  a 
claret-humour.     Farewell.  R.  S.' 

At  the  beginning  of  1802  Southey  was  tired  of  his  secretary- 
ship, and  depressed  at  the  illness  of  his  mother,  who  was 
dying  of  consumption  ;  and  Lamb  had  begun  to  write  for 
the  Morning  Post,  a  fact  at  which  Rickman  rejoiced,  so 
much  so  that  he  ordered  a  subscription  to  be  taken  out  in 
the  name  of  his  father  at  Christchurch.  Burnett  had  been 
appointed  tutor  to  the  two  sons  of  Lord  Stanhope,  the 
democratic  peer.  He  had  finished  his  introduction  to  the 
Universal  History.  These  facts  explain  Rickman's  letter 
which  follows  : — 

'  Dublin  Castle,  January  5th,  1802. 

'  .  .  .  I  am  a  little  out  of  intelligence  from  London  ;  (save 
from  the  Cockpit)  last  I  heard  of  G.  Dyer,  who  printeth — 
but  hath  not  begun  his  Vita  Authoris  schemed  for  him  by 
Lamb's  ingenuity.  Lamb  also  printeth,  to  better  purpose, 
he  has  pruned  Margaret,  he  says,  into  my  shape  and  con- 
ception of  things.  I  hope  carefully,  since  certainly  I  know 
not  much  of  the  drama  ;  nothing  beyond  instinct. 

'  I  receive  the  Morning  Post  and  search  it  diligently  ;  he 
owneth  certain  theatrical  reports,  and  I  find  jokes  besides. 
I  think  they  will  have  an  interest  in  paying  him  very  hand- 
somely.    When  daily  papers  run  against  one  another  in 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      71 

peace,  in  times  of  no  intelligence,  where  can  such  an  aid 
be  found  as  Lamb  ?  I  have  heard  wit  from  him  in  an 
evening  to  feed  a  paper  for  a  week.  I  am  much  pleased 
that  Burnet  is  well  placed,  it  was  an  arduous  task  to  do  so, 
and  may  be  esteemed  a  resurrection  from  the  dead.  From 
his  last  to  me  I  calculated  on  his  despair.  I  think  he  will 
do  well  for  instilling  the  languages  into  the  young  nobles. 
Lord  Stanhope  is  an  acute  man,  and  will  instil  other  things 
himself,  and  Burnet  will  have  leisure  enough.  I  should 
like  to  see  the  famous  preface,  which  must  have  almost 
worn  out  the  anvil,  the  arm  and  the  hammer.  It  is  for  his 
future  health  of  soul,  that  he  discovered  that  authorship 
is  not  a  resource  to  the  idle,  before  this  lucky  hit  put  him 
beside  the  acquisition  of  that  knowledge ;  were  I  to  name 
hard  work,  it  would  be  that  work — and  followed  as  a  book- 
making  trade  it  is  not  glorious — to  write  per  sheet  soon 
resolves  itself  into  not  writing  per  excellence.  I  admire 
your  task,  and  do  more  than  suspect  a  semi-tutorship.  I 
did  not  know  of  the  young  Chancellor,  till  from  you.  Mr.  C.'s 
particular  wish  for  regular  education,  and  knowledge  of  the 
classics  is  now  better  explained  than  it  was.  I  was  puzzled 
at  it.  What  the  devil  has  Greek  to  do  with  taxation,  and 
amounts  and  loans  ?  I  wonder  with  you  that  you  have 
not  dined  with  him,  the  more  as  I  used  to  dine  with  him 
so  often  here  that  I  was  ashamed  of  it.  I  imagine  your 
connections  with  the  opposite  people  bears  a  little  upon  this 
point.  But  while  you  have  leisure,  it  is  of  little  consequence. 
Dabit  Deus  his  quoque  fine?n.  We  shall  see  some  sequel, 
if  you  [do  your]  part,  you  will  be  sure  of  his  interest  for 
other  purposes  at  all  events.  I  hope  you  [will  get]  a  certain 
popular  knowledge  of  the  knowledge  of  the  day  by  your 
tarrying  in  town.  I  thank  you  for  the  book-commission 
executed.  I  read  10  pages  of  Miss  Hannah  Blagden,1  and 
saw  wit,  and  I  concede  a  little  religion  to  my  female  friends 
and  relations.     I  desire  my  best  respects  to  all  your  ladies, 

1  i.e.  Hannah  More.  The  allusion  is  to  the  '  Blagdon  controversy ' 
which  raged  round  the  school  founded  by  her  at  Blagdon  in  Somersetshire 
from  1800  to  1802.     The  schoolmaster  was  accused  of  holding  a  conventicle. 


72      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

among  whom  I  see  on  your  list  Mrs.  Lovel,1  whom  I  re- 
member with  pleasure.  Does  Mrs.  Edith  S.  like  town  or  not  ? 
Coleridge  seems  to  have  done  much  good  in  town  to  Burnet — 
Lamb — etc.  What  is  he  doing  himself — and  what  is  Davy 
doing  ?  Do  you  assail  him  ?  Do  his  Meta — Meta — Meta- 
physicks  succumb  ?  I  suppose  you  attend  his  lectures 
occasionally.   .   .  .' 

Three  letters  from  Lamb  come  in  here,  written  on  January  9, 
January  14,  and  January  18  respectively.  They  speak  of 
his  work  for  the  Morning  Post,  of  Dyer's  bringing  the  eccentric 
Earl  of  Buchan  to  see  him,  and  of  Burnett's  arrival — late  as 
usual — to  take  up  his  appointment.  On  January  17  Southey 
philosophically  enough  announced  his  mother's  death,  with 
some  gossip  about  Cottle.  On  February  1  Rickman  received 
a  characteristic  account  from  Lamb  of  the  elopement  of 
Burnett's  two  pupils.  Their  mother's  family  had  probably 
enticed  them  away,  fearing  the  democratic  influence  of 
'  Citizen  '  Stanhope,  so  '  George  n.'  remained  with  his  em- 
ployer as  secretary  instead  of  tutor.  Rickman  was  now 
very  busy,  as  Abbot  had  gone  to  London,  leaving  his  secre- 
tary to  represent  him.  By  the  courtesy  of  the  present 
Lord  Colchester  I  am  able  to  reproduce  in  part  one  of 
Rickman's  official  letters.  It  refers  among  other  matters 
to  the  death  of  Lord  Clare,  the  Irish  Lord  Chancellor, 
which,  says  Abbot  in  his  Diary,  delivered  the  Irish  and 
British  Governments  from  much  trouble.  He  was  a  violent 
and  overbearing  man,  whose  authority  had  been  weakened 
by  the  Union.  A  special  inquiry  was  subsequently  made 
into  the  Board  of  Works,  of  which  Rickman  speaks  so 
feelingly. 

*  Dublin  Castle,  Feby.  1,  1802. 

'  Sir, — Having  considered  that  Sunday  is  the  quietest  day 
for  recollecting  the  occurrences  of  the  week,  I  propose  to 
dispatch  the  weekly  letter  by  Monday's  mail,  if  you  see  no 
reason  for  preferring  any  other  day  of  the  week. 

1  Sister  of  Mrs.  Southey  and  Mrs.  Coleridge.  Lovell  was  also  one  of  the 
Pantisocrats. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      73 

1  The  occurrence  which  has  filled  every  one's  thoughts  is 
the  death  of  the  Chancellor  ;  all  consider  the  loss  irreparable. 
I  have  heard  of  no  new  speculations  about  a  successor  ;  the 
old  speculations  are  still  heard,  but  with  diminished  con- 
fidence. 

'  The  public  are  much  gratified  by  the  propriety  of  His 
Excellency  in  putting  off  the  intended  drawing  room  which 
was  appointed  for  the  evening  of  Thursday.  As  it  was 
known  that  the  present  Government  here,  and  the  Chancellor 
were  not  cordial,  the  attention  shewn  was  unexpected  and 
made  the  greater  impression  on  the  public  mind. 

'  Mr.  Grattan  is  reported  to  have  said,  on  occasion  of  the 
Chancellor's  death,  that  as  the  race  of  wolf  dogs  in  Ireland 
soon  became  extinct,  when  no  wolves  were  left,  so  the 
Chancellor  has  not  long  outlived  the  ruin  of  his  country, 
viz.  the  Union,  caused  chiefly  by  his  means.  An  ill-natured 
allusion,  and  not  very  happy  ;  if  the  quarrelsome,  snarling 
harpies  of  the  late  Irish  Parliament  were  made  to  stand  for 
the  wolves,  the  comparison  had  been  more  compleat ;  but 
could  not  have  proceeded  from  the  mouth  of  Grattan.  .  .  . 

'  I  have  commenced  the  Excise  returns  ;  because  Dublin 
Port  which  would  naturally  stand  first  in  the  Custom  retn. 
is  not  arrived  yet.  I  suffer  some  interruption  by  letters 
and  visits  from  the  gentlemen  on  the  medical  staff  ;  I  cannot 
blame  them,  neither  can  I  hope  to  be  clear  of  this  nuisance 
till  the  Admr.  furnishes  the  account,  which  he  promises 
daily.  I  hope  then  to  put  the  business  in  such  train,  that 
no  more  trouble  shall  occur. 

'  I  have  explained  your  wishes  about  ascertaining  the 
number  of  Holyhead  passengers  for  the  last  11  years  to 
Mr.  Lees,  who  promises  to  do  all  he  can.  .  .  .  Mr.  Lees 
talks  of  you  in  the  usual  manner  ;  his  applause  you  do  not 
consider  as  very  sincere  ;  I  confess  I  incline  to  Mr.  Marsden's 
opinion  of  the  old  gentleman  ;  that  he  is  a  political  Swiss, 
who  is  really  the  very  faithful  and  devoted  servant  of  every 
successive  Government,  and  that  he  may  perhaps  feel  a 
trifling  preponderance  to  see  Ireland  well  governed.  .   .  . 

'  The  Board  of  Works  go  on  as  might  be  expected ;  all 


74      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

confusion ;  three  days  since  Mr.  Woodgate  brought  me 
an  Order  issued  to  him,  that  he  should  forthwith  inspect 
and  examine  the  mass  of  their  old  Accounts.  He  said  to 
me,  that  then  it  must  of  course  be  impossible  for  him  to 
go  on  with  his  other  duties.  I  told  him  to  say  to  them  as 
of  himself,  that  he  did  not  conceive  his  instructions  war- 
ranted him  in  such  application  of  his  time,  and  that  he 
feared  he  might  displease  Government  in  so  doing — there- 
fore declined  the  task. 

'  The  Secretary  has  become  visible  ;  but  disclaims  per- 
formance of  any  duty,  beyond  writing  his  signature ;  he 
says  he  is  not  used  to  such  things  as  taking  minutes,  draft- 
ing official  papers,  etc. — In  truth  to  work  with  such  an 
awkward  tool  as  the  Board  of  Works  seems  a  great  waste 
of  exertion.  Besides  ignorance  and  inaptitude  for  any  real 
business,  they  seem  to  exhibit  some  presumption,  in  ap- 
pointing Mr.  Spear  Pro-Secretary,  and  in  refusing  a  room 
for  an  Office.   .   .   .' 

Rickman  had  requested  both  Lamb  and  Southey  to 
compose  an  epitaph  on  a  Miss  Mary  Druitt  who  died  at 
Wimborne.  Lamb's  lines  are  among  his  poetical  works, 
and  Southey  in  a  not  very  interesting  letter  of  February  6 
refused  the  task.  On  February  14  Lamb  informed  Rickman 
of  his  break  with  the  Morning  Post,  and  of  his  inability  to 
work  to  order.  He  alluded  to  Abbot's  elevation  to  the 
Speakership,  which  took  place  on  February  10,  to  Dyer's 
being  kept  from  starvation  by  a  committee  of  friends,  and 
to  Burnett's  self-importance  at  being  sent  on  any  trumpery 
errand.  On  February  17  Southey  wrote  again,  asking  if 
Abbot's  elevation  would  bring  Rickman  to  London  as 
Speaker's  Secretary.     He  continued  : — 

'  .  .  .  You  have  received  "  John  Woodville."  I  retain  my 
first  opinion.  It  is  delightful  poetry  badly  put  together. 
An  exquisite  picture  in  a  clumsy  frame.  Margaret  is  a 
noble  girl.  The  other  characters  not  so  well  conceived. 
A  better  imitation  of  old  language  I  have  never  seen,  but 
was  the  language  of  the  serving  men  ever  the  language  of 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      75 

nature  ?  Lamb  has  copied  the  old  writers,  I  expect  that 
they  did  not  copy  existing  characters.  Those  quaint  turns 
of  words  and  quainter  contortions  of  thought  never  could 
be  produced  by  ignorant  men.  The  main  interest  of  the 
play  (the  discovery)  is  too  foolish.  The  effect  produced 
too  improbable.  Withal  so  beautiful  is  the  serious  dialogue 
that  more  than  redeems  the  story.  Most  I  like  the  con- 
cluding scene. 

'  I  am  half  amused  and  half  provoked  by  the  civilities 
which  my  Secretaryship  procures  me,  and  receive  them  with 
an  accurate  sense  of  their  value.  I  on  my  part  also  am 
more  civil  perhaps  than  usual.  My  wish  is  to  get  abroad, 
and  I  am  old  enough  never  to  kick  away  the  stone  which  I 
may  want  to  step  upon.  Abroad  I  must  go — so  says  my 
head  and  my  whole  intestinal  canal  and  my  inclination. 
Lisbon  of  course  is  the  place  desirable.  I  would  com- 
pound for  Madrid,  it  is  a  hateful  city,  and  only  its  books 
can  atone  for  a  bad  situation  both  as  to  earth  and  heaven. 
If  in  October  however  I  see  no  near  chance  of  a  legation 
southward,  as  the  world  will  be  before  me,  I  shall  seriously 
think  of  taking  root  in  Portugal,  and  seriously  labour  to 
get  money  enough  for  a  land  journey  from  Bilbao  to  St. 
Sebastian  thro'  Biscay  to  Madrid,  and  thence  elbow  out 
of  the  straight  road  to  Toledo  and  Cordova.  These  plans 
you  see  are  post-obit  speculations,  for  the  natural  death  of 
my  office  may  be  calculated  upon. 

'  Did  I  tell  you  how  Burnett's  tutorship  is  like  my 
Secretaryship — a  happy  sinecure  ?  that  his  pupils  have 
both  eloped,  and  that  he  receives  his  salary  for  eating  and 
drinking  with  Lord  Stanhope,  and  talking  late  after  supper  % 
The  Historian's  ambition  is  gone  by  ;  a  passion  for  the 
utilities  has  succeeded,  and  we  have  given  him  the  new  title 
Professor  of  Mathematics.  The  Lord  who  is  not  only  a  good 
man,  but  a  very  clever  one,  has  many  mechanical  inventions 
to  bring  forward,  of  which  I  suppose  some  one  will  fall  to 
the  share  of  Burnett,  and  so  make  him  lazy  for  life  by  a 
valuable  patent.  He  is  as  happy  as  the  Great  Mogul. 
Of  the  other  George  I  have  more  doleful  tidings.     Mary 


76      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

Lamb  and  her  brother  have  succeeded  in  talking  him  into 
love  with  Miss  Ben  jay  or  Bungey  or  Bungay  ;  but  they 
have  got  him  into  a  quagmire  and  cannot  get  him  out  again, 
for  they  have  failed  in  the  attempt  to  talk  Miss  Bungay  or 
Bungey  or  Benjey  into  love  with  him.  This  is  a  cruel 
business,  for  he  has  taken  the  injection,  and  it  may 
probably  soon  break  out  in  sonnets  and  elegies.  .  .  .' 

The  curious  story  of  Dyer's  being  persuaded  into  losing 
his  heart  is  quite  new.  Lamb  makes  no  mention  of  it. 
The  lady  in  question  was  Miss  Elizabeth  Ogilvy  Benger, 
an  author  who  wrote  a  biography  of  John  Tobin,  the 
dramatist.  Madame  de  Stael  described  her  as  the  most 
interesting  woman  she  had  met  in  England.  Miss  Benger 
was  a  friend  of  Sarah  Wesley,  John  Wesley's  niece,  who 
was  herself  a  friend  of  Coleridge.  It  was  through  Miss 
Wesley  that  Lamb  met  Miss  Benger ,who  was  a  thorough  blue- 
stocking. He  describes  the  meeting  to  Coleridge  in  a  letter 
of  April  1800.  Charles  and  Mary  Lamb  went  to  her  lodgings, 
and  were  frightened  out  of  their  wits  by  her  solemn  priggish- 
ness.  Lamb  said  he  was  preparing  for  the  next  meeting  by 
reading  all  the  magazines  and  reviews  of  the  last  month,  by 
which  means  he  hoped  to  cut  a  '  tolerable  second-rate  figure.' 
I  suspect  that  the  Lambs'  persuasion  of  Dyer  into  love  with 
her  was  only  a  joke.  Rickman  answered  on  February  23,  in 
a  letter  which  announced  his  near  return  to  London  as 
Speaker's  Secretary  '  at  some  diminution  of  income,  but 
immense  increase  in  happiness.'  He  was  very  glad  to 
leave  Ireland,  and  had  refused  a  permanent  appointment 
there  worth  £800  a  year.  On  Southey's  story  of  Dyer  he 
comments  :  '  Poor  Dyer  in  love  !  That  cannot  hurt  him  ; 
he  may  love  in  sonnett,  while  he  eats  Lamb's  beef.  Take 
away  starvation  and  he  will  live  like  the  Kings  of  Persia — 
for  ever.'    Within  a  month  he  hoped  to  be  in  London. 


CHAPTER  IV 


1802-1805 


Secretaryship  to  the  Speaker — Bag  and  sword — Thomas  Poole — George 
Burnett  again — G.  B.  quarrels  with  Southey — Lamb's  opinion  of  it — 
Southey's  first  visit  to  Rickman — Poole  and  Poor  Laws — Another 
letter  from  G.  Dyer — His  '  patronage '  of  Lamb — Burnett's  letters — 
Rickman's  temper — Coleridge — Rickman  finds  him  a  ship — His 
letters — Ned  Phillips — Overwork — An  unromantic  marriage. 

'  I  did  not  gain  much,  indeed  was  rather  out  of 
pocket  at  the  end  of  the  first  half-year  [i.e.  of  the  Irish 
secretaryship]  when  Mr.  Abbot  became  Speaker  of  the 
House  of  Commons  ;  but  I  was  offered  good  office  (£800  a 
year)  if  I  chose  to  settle  in  Ireland.  This  I  declined  from 
attachment  to  England  or  to  a  young  lady  at  Chidham, 
and  became  Speaker's  Secretary,  an  office  producing  about 
£300  annually  and  moreover  about  £1000  or  £1200  in  an 
election  year,  which  occurs  about  once  in  five  years,  and 
was  to  happen  by  necessary  dissolution  of  Parliament  in 
1802.  I  was  expected  to  inhabit  an  official  house  adjoining 
the  Speaker's  and  the  Exchequer  in  the  corner  of  Palace 
Yard,  and  for  so  doing,  accepted  as  a  useful  inmate  a  maiden 
Aunt  Beaumont  assisted  by  a  maid  servant,  and  I  paid 
£200  for  the  articles  of  furniture  left  by  my  predecessor, 
a  man  of  some  fortune  and  good  taste.' 

This  is  Rickman's  account,  written  to  his  daughter  in 
later  years,  of  that  move  which  was  in  a  sense  the  last  move 
of  his  life.  The  Speaker's  Secretary  was,  and  still  is,  one 
of  the  officials  of  the  House  of  Commons.  His  duties  are 
to  attend  the  Speaker  on  all  official  occasions,  besides 
fulfilling   the  ordinary   functions   of  a  private   secretary. 


78      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

He  was  then  paid,  as  were  most  of  the  officials  of  the  House 
at  that  time,  by  fees  which  were  charged  upon  every  con- 
ceivable proceeding  of  Parliament.  Until  the  strenuous 
inquiries  of  the  reformed  Parliament  into  official  salaries 
began  in  1833,  the  only  salaries  fixed  by  law,  as  far  as  the 
officials  of  the  House  were  concerned,  were  those  of  the 
Speaker  and  of  the  Clerks  at  the  Table.1  At  that  period 
election  petitions  were  many  and  costly,  and  the  fees 
brought  profit  to  others  besides  the  Speaker's  Secretary.2 
The  days  of  the  unreformed  Parliament,  as  far  as  salaries 
are  concerned,  may  well  be  regretted  by  the  permanent 
officials  of  to-day.3  Besides  his  fees  Rickman,  as  Speaker's 
Secretary,  enjoyed  another  privilege.  All  letters  and 
packages  could  be  sent  to  him  free  under  a  cover  addressed 
to  the  Speaker,  though  this  privilege  only  held  good  while 
Parliament  was  actually  sitting.  Rickman  profited  by  it 
all  the  years  that  he  was  Speaker's  Secretary,  and  so  did 
his  friends  ;  but,  as  we  shall  see,  both  Coleridge  and  Poole 
brought  down  wrath  upon  their  heads  by  making  the 
Speaker  an  intermediary  between  themselves  and  some  other 
person  than  Rickman.  He  was  also  able  to  obtain  '  franks  ' 
for  sending  letters  from  the  Speaker,  though  it  was  not  until 
he  became  Clerk  Assistant  that  Rickman  had  the  power  of 
franking  his  own  letters.  It  was  a  power  which  was  in  some 
ways  irksome  to  its  possessor,  for  all  his  friends  expected 
him  to  send  them  '  franks,'  or  letter-covers  signed  with 
his  name.  Of  Rickman's  other  emolument,  his  official 
house,  I  shall  say  something  in  the  next  chapter.  There  is 
abundant  proof  in  the  letters  that  he  found  his  work  at 
Westminster  distasteful.  He  became  used,  indeed,  to 
wearing  the  '  bag  and  sword,'  which  was  in  itself  an  innova- 
tion to  one  whose  dress  had  formerly  been  so  rough  that  he 

1  The  Speaker's  salary  was  fixed  by  an  act  of  1790,  those  of  the  Clerks 
at  the  Table  by  an  act  of  1800. 

2  But  the  Speaker's  Secretary  profited  very  largely  from  them,  because 
so  many  documents  requiring  the  Speaker's  signature  were  necessary,  on 
each  of  which  the  Secretary  received  a  fee. 

3  See  my  article  on  •  The  Officers  of  the  House  of  Commons  '  in  Black- 
wood's Magazine  for  March  1909. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      79 

once  narrowly  escaped  being  seized  by  the  Press  Gang 1 ; 
but  what  annoyed  him  chiefly  was  having  to  spend  so  much 
of  his  time  in  details  of  routine,  which  were  of  small  import- 
ance. He  found  himself  too  busy  to  read  or  to  devote 
himself  to  what  he  considered  useful  studies  and  meditations. 
If  he  had  not  wished  to  marry  it  is  possible  that  he  might 
have  given  up  official  life,  but  marriage  made  a  fixed  salary 
necessary.  Nevertheless,  if  his  work  was  dull,  the  political 
life,  of  which  he  was  a  spectator,  was  interesting  enough. 
The  House  of  Commons  has  never  been  more  brilliant  than 
it  then  was,  and  feeling  ran  high.  Abroad  Napoleon, 
about  to  break  the  peace  of  Amiens,  dominated  the 
horizon  ;  at  home,  the  quarrels  of  George  in.  and  his  son, 
and  the  intrigues  of  the  various  parties,  charged  the  political 
atmosphere.  The  ministry  of  Addington  was  a  failure, 
and  when  war  broke  out  again  Pitt  was  obviously  wanted 
at  the  helm,  but  Addington's  pride,  the  King's  dislike  of 
Fox,  and  the  disunion  of  the  Whigs  generally,  caused  a  year 
to  be  spent  in  schemes  and  parleyings  before  Pitt  again  took 
office.  Rickman  did  not  consider  that  his  position  debarred 
him  from  commenting  strongly  upon  these  political  events 
from  a  Tory  point  of  view. 

When  the  new  Speaker's  Secretary  entered  on  his  duties, 
his  friend  Southey,  to  his  regret,  left  London.  The 
secretaryship  to  Mr.  Corry,  which  had  become  a  kind  of 
tutorship  to  his  son,  wearied  Southey,  who  returned  to 
Bristol,  and  refused  to  entertain  a  definite  offer  of  a  tutor- 
ship. He  had  thoughts  of  looking  out  for  a  house  at 
Richmond,  but  his  joint  occupation  of  Greta  Hall  with  the 
Coleridges,  at  first  not  a  wholly  satisfactory  experiment, 
proved  to  be  a  settlement  for  life.  The  correspondence 
between  Southey  and  Rickman,  which  it  is  impossible  to 
reproduce  in  full,  was  frequent  and  copious.  Southey's 
projected  history  of  Portugal,  his  reviews,  his  translation 
of  Amadis,  requests  for  books  to  be  sent,  and  other  literary 
matters  fill  up  a  good  deal  of  the  space.     Rickman  was 

1  Southey's  letter  to  W.  S.  Landor,  Life  and  Correspondence  of  R.  S., 
iii.  215. 


80      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

always  ready  to  put  his  information  at  his  friend's  service. 
One  letter  contains  a  long  disquisition  by  him  on  currency, 
and  in  several  others  there  are  discussions  of  the  etymo- 
logy of  words.  Rickman's  project  of  translating  the 
Septuagint,  the  troubles  of  Southey's  brother  Tom  and  the 
escapades  of  his  brother  Edward,  the  prospects  of  George 
Fricker,1  whom  Coleridge  had  brought  to  London,  a  quarrel 
between  Godwin  and  Southey,  and  a  visit  to  Edinburgh 
are  other  topics.  The  name  of  Captain  (afterwards  Admiral) 
Burney,  the  historian  of  the  South  Seas,  often  occurs,  and 
there  are  several  letters  in  his  hand  to  Southey. 

Two  other  friends  came  into  correspondence  with  Rick- 
man  at  this  time.  Coleridge  he  already  knew,  though  not 
very  intimately.  Coleridge's  letters  of  1804  were  written 
when  he  was  in  London  looking  for  a  ship  to  carry  him  to 
Malta.  It  was  Rickman  who  found  him  the  vessel.  The 
other  correspondent  was  Thomas  Poole  of  Nether  Stowey, 
Coleridge's  friend,  of  whom  Southey  said  that  he  was  more 
akin  in  mind  to  Rickman  than  any  man  he  knew.  Mrs. 
Sandford  in  her  memoir  of  Poole  says  that  Coleridge  intro- 
duced him  to  Rickman  in  January  1802,  when  they  went 
up  to  hear  Davy  lecture  at  the  Royal  Institution.  This 
cannot  be  so,  for  Rickman  was  at  that  date  in  Ireland. 
Southey  must  have  engineered  the  first  introduction  through 
Davy  in  June  1802,  as  his  and  Rickman's  letters  in  that 
month  show.  The  common  interests  of  the  two  men  in 
economic  subjects  drew  them  together.  Both  had  strong 
views  upon  the  Poor  Laws,  so  that  when  an  act,  introduced 
by  George  Rose,  M.P.,  was  passed  in  1803  providing 
that  all  parish  overseers  should  make  returns  as  to  the 
condition  of  the  poor  in  their  parishes,  Rickman,  whose 
assistance  Rose  had  requested,  offered  to  Poole  the  task 
of  supervising  in  London  the  administration  of  the  act,  an 
offer  which  Poole  at  once  accepted.  An  office  and  lodgings 
were  found  for  him  in  Abingdon  Street,  Westminster,  and 
several  clerks  were  put  under  him.  In  a  letter  to  Coleridge 
Poole  spoke  of  his  gratitude  for  Rickman's  friendship  and 

1  Brother-in-law  of  Southey  and  Coleridge. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      81 

'  flattering  partiality '  in  the  matter.  His  labours  took 
him  nearly  a  year,  during  part  of  which  Coleridge  stayed 
with  him  at  Abingdon  Street ;  but  the  friendship  with 
Rickman,  though  rather  formal,  continued  to  show  itself 
in  a  correspondence  which  ranges  over  ten  years. 

For  the  greater  part  of  1802  I  shall  only  take  short 
extracts  from  Rickman 's  correspondence.  On  June  2 
Southey  wrote  from  Bristol : — 

'  I  met  Poole  here  on  his  way  to  France,  and  desired 
that  he  would  make  Davy  take  him  to  you.  He  is  a  man 
you  will  like  to  converse  with,  for  his  pursuits  have  been 
chiefly  agriculture  and  political  economy.' 

Rickman  answered  on  June  12  : — 

'  I  have  seen  Mr.  Poole,  and  like  him  well.  A  little 
dogmatic,  from  the  nature  of  country  contemplation,  which 
is  so  undistracted  that  a  man  must  hug  the  bantling  which 
has  cost  him  brain-sweat.  But  we  were  all  so  once  ;  and 
I  verily  believe  that  the  literary  dissipation  of  London 
can  by  no  means  suffer  original  thought  to  flourish.  .  .  . 
Davy  is  working  hard  and  usefully.  I  reckon  it  a  great 
gain  to  myself  and  the  world  that  he  has  become  anti- 
gallican,  and  has  now  seen  enough  of  the  great  and  the 
famous  to  have  learned  quantum  est  in  rebus  inane.  .  .  . 
His  present  foible  is  the  undue  exaltation  of  science  into 
authority,  where  her  investigations  have  not  been  most 
perfect.  .  .  .  However  all  will  be  right  with  him  in  time. 
Excuse  a  distracted  letter  by  Saturday  post.  Dyer  who 
dines  with  me  has  been  running  about  the  room  looking  at 
the  lettering  of  your  books,  which  he  pronounces  a  fine 
collection,  not  knowing  ten  of  them  in  all.' 

Later  in  June  Rickman  makes  the  first  mention  of 
Captain  Burney,  who  became  a  great  friend  of  his,  and  on 
July  2  he  observes  : — 

'  We  have  sent  off  the  Parliament  at  last  to  my  great 
joy,  being  heartily  sick  of  the  misery  of  dressing  daily, 
and    of    doing    nothing    to    any   purpose.  ...  I   suppose 


82      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

Dyer  sent  you  his  Poems  with  his  letter.  Could  any  body 
but  Dyer  have  been  so  simple  as  to  inscribe  a  poem,  The 
Padlocked  Lady  '  ? 

On  August  5  we  hear  of  unexpected  political  activity 
on  the  part  of  Dyer,  who,  says  Rickman,  '  has  lately  been 
very  profitably  employed  considering  his  office  of  Cancel- 
larius  Magnus.  He  has  been  on  Sir  Francis  Burdett's1 
committee,  reckoning  himself  and  Sir  F.  allied,  because 
the  said  Sir  F.  talked  about  the  Bastille,  and  G.  D.  wrote 
a  book  intituled  the  Complaints  of  the  Poor.'  2 

In  the  autumn  the  wretched  George  Burnett  again  began 
troubling  his  friends.  He  had  left  Lord  Stanhope,  who 
had  paid  him  a  full  year's  salary  of  £200,  and  had  resumed 
his  literary  vagabondage.  He  had  also  taken  to  opium, 
probably  from  Coleridge's  example ;  and,  as  usual  when 
he  was  particularly  down  on  his  luck,  he  laid  all  his  troubles 
at  Southey's  door.  On  October  14  Southey  writes  of  his 
being  at  Bristol : — 

'  Burnett — God  knows  why — thinks  my  acquaintance 
beneath  him,  and  talked  so  very  absurdly  about  me 
to  Danvers,  that  Danvers  made  him  answer,  "  George 
Burnett,  if  I  had  a  horsewhip,  and  we  were  not  in  the  street, 
I  would  lay  it  over  you  as  long  as  I  was  able."  Poor  fellow, 
an  envy  of  which  he  is  too  proud  and  too  self-satisfied  to 
be  conscious  has  refined  into  dislike,  and  will  end  in  hatred. 
I  am  really  sorry,  for  you  know  what  a  bottom  of  affectionate 
good-will  there  has  been  and  is  in  all  my  feelings  respecting 
him.  He  talks  of  a  pistol,  and  will  talk  of  it  till  pure  shame 
forces  him  to  play  the  fool  with  it,  because  he  is  laughed 
at  for  his  cowardly  bravados.  God  Almighty  must  have 
designed  him  for  a  gentleman  at  least,  if  not  for  higher 
rank,  he  is  so  utterly  unfit  for  any  earthly  employment.' 

Rickman,  who  never  suffered  fools  gladly,  for  all  his 
desire  to  help  them,  replied  by  return  : — 

1  The  reformer,  for  many  years  M.P.  for  Westminster. 

1  Complaints  of  the  Poor  People  of  England,  published  in  1793. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      83 

'  I  did  not  suppose  the  Bishop  would  have  been  so 
very  silly  as  you  mention,  and  I  no  longer  repent  of 
that  caustic  I  once  applied  to  his  overweening  folly.  He 
envies,  it  seems  ;  why  does  he  not  emulate  ?  Whom 
does  he  see  succeed  in  any  thing  by  yawning  and  meta- 
physics ?  Does  he  see  you  idle  ?  Does  he  see  me  idle  ? 
Did  he  see  even  Lord  Stanhope  idle  ?  .  .  .  I  believe  there  is 
no  fear  of  his  using  a  pistol,  but  it  might  be  well  if  in  an 
absent  fit  he  should  walk  over  the  edge  of  the  quay.  So 
would  the  aliment  be  bestowed  on  some  more  profitable 
animal,  which  is  now  consumed  by  him.  As  a  cosmopolite, 
it  is  moral  to  wish  him  dead/ 

A  few  days  later  Burnett  had  come  to  London,  having 
refused  a  tutorship  offered  him  at  Bristol,  and  the  benevo- 
lent Dyer  was  trying  to  find  him  work  :  a  '  characteristic 
situation,'  says  Southey.  Rickman's  letter  of  December  16 
deserves  longer  quotation.  Besides  the  mention  of  his 
friends,  it  contains  the  first  hint  of  his  thoughts  of 
marriage.  It  must  be  confessed  that  they  were  unromantic 
enough. 

'  New  Palace  Yard,  December  16th,  1802. 

* .  .  .  I  begin  to  become  less  irritated  with  the  daily 
nonsense  of  Bag  and  Sword,  and  have  reduced  the  ceremony 
of  dressing  in  costume  down  to  7  minutes — undressing 
2  minutes.  I  have  a  wig  to  which  the  bag  is  appended, 
and  as  to  the  lower  part  of  my  dress,  that  goes  through 
the  day.  So  that  I  shall  go  on  not  displeased  with  my 
situation  immediately ;  especially  as  the  first  year  or  two 
of  Parliament  doubles  the  income  :  the  election  petitions 
being  great  plagues,  but  some  profit.  I  have  not  yet 
become  satisfied  with  house-keeping ;  indeed  it  has  been 
managed  badly,  and  much  illness  of  my  aunt,  and  some  of 
the  maid  servants,  has  annoyed  me  not  a  little.  I  begin 
to  think  that  at  last  I  shall  be  forced  to  find  out  a  wife, 
and  though  I  am  rather  past  falling  in  love,  I  daresay  I 
should  not  chuse  the  more  unwisely  for  that.  However 
this  matter  is  sub  judice ;  it  still  appears  to  me  a  perilous 


84      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  HICKMAN 

engagement  and  something  of  constraint.  A  man  cannot 
strike  his  tent  so  speedily,  and  want  of  rapidity  in  that, 
is  bad  in  warfare.  I  think  I  ought  in  conscience  to  keep 
myself  among  the  light  infantry;  for  I  want  to  do  so 
many  things  before  I  die,  that  time  seems  hardly  sufficient, 
husband  it  by  not  being  a  husband,  as  much  as  I  may.* 

'  George  the  first  dined  here  to-day,  coming  in  very 
orderly  and  comfortably  about  dinner  time.  I  like  to  see 
him  happy  ;  I  question  whether  anybody,  with  the  same 
scanty  means,  ever  created  so  much  happiness  to  his 
numerous  friends  as  he.  He  now  pretends  to  be  a  little 
castigated  as  to  the  generality  of  his  benevolence,  and 
immediately  recommends  two  or  three  "  ingenious  young 
men  "  for  divers  purposes.  Lamb  met  George  the  second 
a  day  or  two  since.  The  gentleman  looked  wildly,  talked 
of  desperation  etc.  In  fact  he  takes  opium,  and  I  suppose 
will  some  day  muster  up  courage  to  take  a  potent  dose  of  it. 
I  have  no  objection  to  his  doing  so.  Lord  Stanhope  gave 
him  so  fair  a  chance  in  giving  him  £200,  and  that  fair  chance 
has  been  so  completely  thrown  away  without  effort  or  device 
for  permanent  subsistance,  that  I  deem  the  moon-struck 
man  as  a  hopeless  case.  .  .  . 

'  *  N.B.     Lamb  supped  with  me  last  night.     Infection  ! ' 

The  first  news  of  1803  is  of  Burnett,  who  had  again  gone 
to  pour  out  his  wrath  over  Southey.  Southey  describes  the 
scene  on  January  12  : — 

'  George  the  second  has  quarrelled  with  me  in  the  oddest 
of  all  possible  ways  :  he  says  I  treated  him  with  neglect 
and  contempt  in  London,  and  that  another  person  saw  it 
as  well  as  himself.  There  is  reason  to  believe  he  means 
Lamb,  and  if  it  be  so,  Burnett  has  been  making  some  mis- 
take about  him  as  well  as  me,  taking  jest  perhaps  for  sober 
earnest.  This  however  is  the  least  part  of  my  offence.  I 
and  Coleridge  he  says  have  been  the  cause  of  all  his  un- 
happiness,  and  what  he  justly  calls  idiotism  :  we  never 
treated  him  properly.     Now  treated  is  here  used  in  the  dis- 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      85 

pensary  sense  of  the  word.  "  Every  human  being  can 
influence  the  mind  of  another  human  being  if  placed  near 
him,  and  upon  this  great  truth  all  the  principles  of  education 
depend."  The  second  George  laid  down  this  proposition 
in  Bristol  streets  at  noonday,  speaking  so  loud  that  every 
body  might  hear  him,  and  rolling  his  eyes  to  see  who  listened. 
Well — now  for  the  minor  :  "  but  you  and  Coleridge  did  not 
properly  influence  my  mind,"  and  so  the  syllogism  was  to 
end  in  a  quarrel,  that  is  he  gravely  desired  never  to  see  me 
while  he  was  in  Bristol.  His  mind  was  not  healthy  enough 
to  form  a  sound  result  (tho'  he  was  sure  he  was  right),  and 
if  on  his  recovery  from  a  stomach  complaint  he  found  out 
that  he  had  been  mistaken  in  thinking  thus  harshly  of  me, 
why  he  would  let  me  know.  All  this  is  truly  absurd,  but 
certain  old  habits  of  affection  make  me  sorry  for  it.  Damn 
his  fool's  head,  he  has  been  feeding  upon  Scotch  meta- 
physics ...  he  walks  tiptoe  and  talks  of  his  high  moral 
views  of  things  and  principles  of  action  above  those  of 
common  men.  "  Common  men  !  "  By  God  he  is  an  un- 
common one,  mad  as  ever  was  Don  Quixote  or  Loyola,  and 
precisely  from  the  same  cause,  exclusively  reading  what  he 
did  not  understand.' 

In  answer  Rickman  remarks  : — 

'I  understand  that  Burnet  was  much  worse  than  ever 
before,  and  it  seems  that  Bristol  does  not  agree  with  him, 
nor  I  think  will  any  part  of  this  planet  of  ours  :  would  he 
were  departed  from  it ;  a  wish  conceived  in  charity  to  him.' 

And  in  postscript  to  a  letter  of  February  1 : — 

'  About  George  n.  :  Lamb  indeed  thinks  that  you  and 
Coleridge  did  mischief  to  the  man  by  your  notice  and 
society  :  but  does  not  therein  find  fault  with  the  agents  but 
with  the  patient.  The  fool  always  thought  himself  a  wit 
doubtless  ;  which  was  a  mistake  :  and  after  you  noticed  him, 
an  eminent  wit ;  which  was  a  greater  mistake.  But  only 
the  material  was  to  blame  ;  what  had  been  polish  to  a 
firmer  substance  was  dissolution  to  his  flimsy  skull.' 


86      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

Lamb  was  a  keen  judge  of  men. 

In  March  comes  Rickman's  first  letter  to  Thomas  Poole.1 

■  March  23rd,  1803. 

'  My  dear  Sir, — I  saw  your  friend  Mr.  Coleridge  on 
Monday,  and  learned  from  him  that  you  were  returned  to 
England  after  having  attained  the  objects  of  your  pere- 
grination very  fully.  I  enclose  with  this  letter  a  few  pages 
to  be  bound  up  with  the  Popn.  Vols.,  which  I  believe  you 
have,  though  for  my  soul  I  cannot  recollect  in  what  manner, 
yet  I  am  sure  I  sent  them  to  somebody  who  was  to  send 
them  to  you,  I  think  to  Chancery  Lane.  If  you  have  them 
not,  write  to  enquire  thereof  your  French  house. 

'  I  understand  from  Mr.  C.  that  you  are  working  hard  at 
the  Poor  Laws  (that  are  to  be),  and  I  long  to  know  the 
result  of  your  speculations  therein,  depending  on  it  that 
something  very  practical  and  therefore  useful  will  be 
produced  by  you  on  that  subject.  But  what  will  you  do 
with  town  poor  ?  My  wish  sends  all  London  miserables 
to  Primrose  Hill  to  grow  vegetables  for  us,  out-door  work 
seeming  desirable,  and  the  workhouses  in  town  miserable 
gaols  to  the  inhabitants,  and  unwholesome  for  the  whole 
neighbourhood.  However,  in  the  winter  my  ragged  colony 
(that  is,  redeemed  from  rags.  Am  I  in  Ireland  again  ?)  may 
pursue  many  other  manufactures,  which  may  require  most 
manipulation.  For  the  country  poor  I  desire  only  a  com- 
pulsory law  that  parishes  shall  provide  certain  ground  for 
those  thought  worthy  of  indulgence,  and  the  rest  would  soon 
become  worthy. 

'  You  see  how  freely  I  write  my  rambling  ideas,  hoping 
to  receive  something  valuable  in  return.  You  must  know 
I  take  you  for  a  sort  of  cosmopolite,  willing  to  apply  all 
things  to  the  best  purpose  for  the  general  benefit  of  man- 
kind. Looking  upon  you  as  a  machine  of  some  value  in 
that  behalf,  I  would  desire  you  to  consider  whether  you 
ought  not  to  spend  a  year  or  two  in  London  for  your  im- 
provement. I  know  that  the  country  produces  or  fosters 
1  Quoted  in  Thomas  Poole  and  his  Friends,  ii.  107. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN       87 

genius  beyond  the  town,  but  of  knowledge,  not  so.  I  think 
that  a  man's  store  must  have  many  chasms  in  it  who  is  not 
conversant  with  the  Catalogue  Men  who  know  something 
of  everything  and  prate  like  parrots  what  they  have  heard 
of  others.  They  serve  for  vehicles  of  knowledge,  though 
one  cannot  hold  them  very  high,  and  I  think  you  would 
gain  much  by  being  in  the  way  of  all  the  modes  by  which 
knowledge  here  approaches  to  general  knowledge  more  or 
less.  How  often  have  I  spent  my  brain  in  considering  and 
labouring  certain  points  in  the  country  and  afterwards 
found  all  the  world  has  long  since  perfectly  known  and 
agreed  in  the  result  of  my  lucubrations.  It  is  provoking 
so  to  waste  one's  self,  but  I  think  it  must  happen  sometimes 
in  the  metropolis  as  well  as  in  other  countries  remote.  I 
suppose  I  have  an  inclination  that  you  should  be  here  for 
the  pleasure  of  seeing  you  sometimes.  I  am  sure,  however, 
that  is  not  my  first  motive,  for  I,  too,  in  my  degree  of 
affectation  at  least,  chance  also  to  be  a  cosmopolite,  and 
therefore  (among  better  reasons)  your  friend  and  servant.' 

The  next  letter  to  Southey  shows  how  great  was  Lamb's 
attachment  to  Rickman.  During  Mary  Lamb's  attacks  of 
insanity  he  used  to  cut  himself  off  from  all  but  the  very 
closest  friends. 

'  March  30th,  1803. 
' .  .  .  Yesterday  evening  or  rather  afternoon,  C.  Lamb 
came  in  somewhat  abruptly,  and  at  sitting  down,  shed  some 
tears.  The  cause  is  distressing ;  inasmuch  as  his  sister  is 
again  seized  with  an  unhappy  derangement ;  and  has  been 
therefore  compelled  to  go  into  custody,  away  from  home, 
but  as  she  has  usually  recovered  in  about  two  or  three 
months,  we  may  hope  the  best.  Poor  Lamb  recovered 
himself  pretty  well  towards  night,  and  slept  at  my  house  : 
he  dines  with  me  to-day,  and  then  hopes  that  he  will  be 
steadied.  He  desires  me  to  thank  you  for  the  wish  you 
expressed  of  his  spending  some  time  with  you  in  his  next 
vacation.     Write  to  him  just  to  amuse  him,  he  feels  dreary, 


88      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

and  would  like  a  letter  from  any  friend.  I  believe  Coleridge 
is  going  to  chum  with  him  some  time  for  company's  sake. 
.  .  .  Mr.  Poole  of  Stowey  has  returned  from  the  Continent, 
as  I  hear,  full  of  information  about  the  poor  of  all  places. 
He  is  a  solid  thinking  man  ;  and  his  subject  of  contem- 
plation and  enquiry  well  chosen — very  useful  and  very 
practicable,  as  I  take  it.  Quaere — Whether  a  Beguinage 
story  may  not  make  an  appendix  to  anj^thing  he  may  think 
of  publishing  concerning  the  poor  in  general. 

'  I  learnt  of  this  gentleman's  return  from  Coleridge, 
whom  I  have  seen  twice.  I  am  a  little  annoyed  by  a  habit 
of  assentation,  which  I  fancy  I  perceive  in  him  ;  and  cannot 
but  think  that  he  likes  to  talk  well,  rather  than  to  give  or 
receive  much  information.  I  understand  he  is  terribly 
pestered  with  invitations  to  go  to  parties,  as  a  singer  does, 
to  amuse  the  guests  by  his  talent ;  a  hatefull  task  I  should 
think :  I  would  rather  not  talk  finely,  than  talk  to  such 
a  purpose.  .  .  .' 

.Rickman  had  heard  a  rumour  that  Southey  intended 
visiting  London  to  complete  some  business  with  his  pub- 
lishers. In  a  letter  of  April  4,  asking  him  to  stay,  Rickman 
makes  a  characteristic  comment : — 

'  I  understand  Longman  and  Rees  affect  to  furnish  tea 
and  toast  once  a  week  to  hungry  Literati.  A  blessed 
society  it  must  be,  considering  the  fashionable  sort  of  con- 
versation among  that  class  of  beings  ;  abstraction  of  all 
sorts  ;  information  of  no  sort ;  envy,  murmurings  and 
meanness.     The  day  of  little  men  is  come  !  ' 

Southey's  visit  occurred  in  June.  It  was  the  first  of 
many  occasions  when  he  stayed  at  Westminster  with 
Rickman.  Writing  to  W.  S.  Landor  in  1809 J  Southey 
thus  describes  his  welcome  : — 

'  His  manners  are  stoical ;  they  are  like  the  husk  of 
a  cocoanut,  but  his  inner  nature  is  like  the  milk  within 
its  kernel.     When  I  go  to  London  I  am  always  his  guest. 

1  Life  and  Correspondence,  of  R.  S.,  iii.  215. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      89 

He  gives  me  but  half  his  hand  when  he  welcomes  me  at 
the  door,  but  I  have  his  whole  heart, — and  there  is  not 
that  thing  in  the  world  which  he  thinks  would  serve  or 
gratify  me  that  he  does  not  do  for  me,  unless  it  be  some- 
thing which  he  thinks  I  can  as  well  do  myself.' 

I  will  also  quote  here  Sou  they 's  description  of  another 
visit  in  1806.1     It  is  to  his  friend  Danvers. 

'  So  I  passed  much  of  my  time, — that  is  at  Rickman's, 
— and  usually  got  to  bed  at  my  own  right  reasonable 
hour,  as  soon  as  the  clock  struck  ten.  ...  I  was  left 
at  perfect  liberty,  and  no  difference  was  made  in  the 
domestic  arrangements  whether  I  dined  there  or  abroad. 
John  the  boy,  the  happiest  of  all  boys  in  London,  was  at 
my  service,  to  light  a  fire  for  me  in  the  little  parlour  below 
stairs  whenever  I  chose,  to  bring  me  biscuits,  cheese,  and 
ale  when  I  was  hungry,  and  to  run  errands  for  me  when- 
ever I  was  pleased  to  call  him  from  running  after  a  butterfly 
in  the  garden,  picking  snails,  playing  with  the  cat,  or 
quarrelling  with  the  maid,  who  is  an  ogress,  and  beats 
him  with  the  fire-shovel.' 

It  was  during  this  visit  in  1803  that  Southey,  Rickman, 
and  his  sister  went  with  the  Lambs  to  Sadlers  Wells  to  see 
some  absurd  plays.  The  excursion  is  mentioned  in  a  letter 
from  Mary  Lamb  to  Dorothy  Wordsworth,2  who  says  that 
while  Charles  and  Miss  Rickman  laughed  the  whole  time, 
Southey  and  Rickman  went  to  sleep.  Southey  at  this 
time  also  made  an  arrangement  with  Longmans  to  edit 
the  Bibliotheca  Britannica  on  a  large  scale.  Rickman  was 
to  do  articles  on  Bacon  and  others.  The  scheme,  however, 
fell  through. 

In  July  Rickman  made  his  offer  to  Thomas  Poole  to 
supervise  the  administration  of  the  new  Poor  Law  Act, 
which   was   accepted   with   alacrity.     The   correspondence 

1  Selections  from  the  Letters  of  R.  S.,  i.  374. 

a  Published  for  the  first  time  by  Mr.  E.  V.  Lucas,  Works  of  C.  and  M. 
Lamb,  vi.  275. 


90      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

on  the  subject  during  the  next  few  months  is  quoted  by- 
Mrs.  Sandford.1  Meanwhile,  George  Burnett  had,  in  a  fit 
of  repentance,  sent  a  circular  round  to  his  friends  (which 
Southey  mentions)  announcing  his  recovery  from  '  mental 
distortion,'  and  asking  Rickman  for  a  place  under  the 
Government.  Rickman's  comment  to  Southey  is  that 
he  wishes  to  have  nothing  to  do  -with  him.  He  cautions 
Southey  against  telling  him  of  Poole's  prospective  employ- 
ment, because  he  would  rather  lose  his  right  hand  '  than 
be  accessory  again  to  his  [Burnett's]  ruining  office  business 
with  his  yawning  presence  :  it  was  moral  turpitude  in  me 
to  suffer  him  so  long  on  a  similar  occasion  ;  he  stopped 
positive  work  in  others  to  the  amount  of  treble  his  own 
negative  idleness  and  unconscionable  sloth.' 

It  is  probably  to  this  circular  letter  of  Burnett's,  which 
Southey  also  mentions,  that  Lamb  alludes  in  the  short 
note  to  Rickman  dated  July  16. 

'  Dear  Rickman, — I  enclose  you  a  wonder,  a  letter  from 
the  shades.  A  dead  body  wants  to  return,  and  be  inrolled 
inter  vivos.  'Tis  a  gentle  ghost,  and  in  this  galvanic  age 
it  may  have  a  chance.'  2 

Lamb  proceeds  to  mention  that  he  and  Mary  are  setting 
out  for  the  Isle  of  Wight,  and  on  July  27  he  and  Captain 
Burney  sent  a  very  humorous  joint  letter  from  Cowes 
describing  their  mode  of  life.3 

But  soon  a  fresh  scheme  was  on  foot  for  Burnett's  regenera- 
tion, into  which  Southey  and  Rickman  threw  themselves 
with  a  will.  On  July  28  Southey  announced  that  Burnett 
wished  to  become  a  naval  surgeon,  and  asked  Rickman 

1  Thomas  Poole  and  his  Friends,  ii.  109-113. 

2  In  his  note  on  this  letter  Mr.  E.  V.  Lucas  (Works  of  C.  and  M.  Lamb, 
vi.  278)  says  :  '  I  cannot  explain  the  reference  to  the  dead  body.  .  .  . 
I  have  no  real  theory  to  put  forward  ;  but  it  once  occurred  to  me  that 
the  letter  from  the  shades  was  from  George  Burnett,  who  had  quarrelled 
with  Rickman,  and  had  now  possibly  appealed  to  his  mercy  through 
Lamb.' 

3  This  was  published  in  Ainger's  edition  of  the  Letters,  ii.  253. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      91 

to  do  what  he  could.  '  Poor  devil,'  he  concludes,  '  if  he 
should  one  day  cut  off  a  leg  above  the  tourniquet  by  mistake, 
God  forgive  me  if  he  should.  But  what  can  be  done,  for 
he  will  neither  drown  nor  turn  Methodist  parson  ?  '  Rick- 
man,  though  unwilling  to  come  into  direct  communication 
again  with  George  n.,  replied  that  he  would  give  every 
information.  The  result  was  that  Burnett  shortly  appeared 
in  London,  where  Carlisle  (afterwards  Sir  Anthony),  the 
surgeon,  gave  him  hospital  practice  free.  The  even  tone 
of  the  correspondence  of  Southey  and  Rickman  was  broken 
by  the  sad  news  of  the  death  of  the  poet's  daughter. 
Southey's  letter  is  very  touching. 

■  August  24,  1803. 

'  You  have  probably  heard  how  my  home  comforts  have 
been  cut  down  to  the  ground.  My  little  girl  was  laid  by 
the  side  of  Mrs.  Dan  vers  yesterday.  She  was  the  little 
wonder  and  favourite  of  the  neighbourhood.  I  loved  her 
better  than  man  ought  to  love  anything  of  such  uncertain 
existence. 

'  We  are  going  to  Keswick,  the  best  place  for  poor  Edith, 
she  is  almost  heart-broken.  Hers  are  all  chronic  feelings, 
and  it  will  be  long  before  she  recovers.  As  for  me  sup- 
pression is  so  much  my  habit  and  system  that  a  stricture 
ought  to  be  my  natural  death.  I  work  double  tides,  work 
bodily  at  packing,  talk,  eat,  as  I  should  do.  I  am  resigned 
and  shall  soon  be  contented — cheerful  and  even  joyous — 
but  happy  as  I  have  been  to  that  full  extent  and  with  all 
that  full  knowledge  of  my  own  happiness,  that  cannot  be 
till  I  have  another  child,  if  it  please  God  to  give  me  another, 
nor  even  then  unless  it  shall  be  such  as  the  one  we  have  lost. 
—God  help  you,  R.  S.' 

On  November  9  news  came  from  Rickman  of  a  jibbing 
disposition  on  Burnett's  part. 

'  George  n.  works  on  pretty  well  at  the  W.  [West- 
minster] Hospital.     I  have  not  seen  him  often  ;    but  the 


92      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

last  time  he  visited  me  (three  days  since)  he  exhibited 
rebellious  symptoms  against  the  navy,  and  threatened  that 
he  would  go  into  the  militia  as  a  more  genteel  situation. 
I  told  him  that  I  wished  the  navy  for  him,  not  as  a  school 
of  manners  or  society,  but  as  the  most  likely  cure  for  his 
disease,  which  is  yet  so  strong  upon  him,  that  (inter 
oscitandum)  he  held  forth  for  two  hours  about  the  action  of 
mind  on  mind  ;  of  the  peculiarity  of  circumstance  which 
has  induced  his  former  imbecillity ;  of  the  particular 
attention  he  ought  to  pay  to  a  person  of  so  much  value  as 
himself ;  of  not  embracing  any  offer  of  service  which 
might  in  the  event  lead  him  into  any  dangerous  climate, 
etc.,  etc.  I  look  upon  it,  that  the  army  is  a  service  tending 
to  cause  such  a  disease  as  his  ;  and  that  his  longing  for  it 
is  a  mark  that  he  is  incurable.  If  so,  he  may  as  well  saunter 
and  yawn  with  a  red  coat  on  his  back  as  any  other  colour.' 

On  the  same  day  Rickman,  obviously  being  in  a  trenchant 
mood,  gave  his  opinion  to  Poole  of  the  British  Government.1 

' ...  It  would  be  very  pleasant  if  we  could  make 
Englishmen  a  little  better  informed  than  they  are.  Whether 
this  can  be  done  by  any  Government  I  know  not,  but  feel 
uncomfortably  certain  that  such  an  attempt  will  never  be 
made  by  our  Government,  the  distinguishing  character  of 
which  seems  to  consist  in  being  more  backward  in  proportion 
to  the  intellect  of  many  of  its  subjects  than  any  Government 
in  the  world.  What  think  you  of  the  manner  of  distributing 
schedules  throughout  the  Kingdom  ?  As  it  might  have 
been  done  in  the  days  of  Alfred.  The  institution  of  the 
Post  Office  bestows  no  facility,  because  Government  have 
never  thought  it  worth  while  to  establish  agents  through 
the  country  for  the  purpose  of  internal  regulation  and 
information.  I  fear  we  shall  never  see  our  Government 
worthy  of  our  country.  They  make  loans  and  new  taxes  ; 
both  badly,  and  that  is  the  sum  total  of  their  exploits  in 
the  last  century.' 

1  Quoted  in  Thomas  Poole  and  his  Friends,  ii.  113. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      93 

A  week  or  two  later  Rickman  received  a  characteristic 
letter  from  George  Dyer. 

'  21  November  1803. 

'  Dear  Sir, — I  understood,  at  the  time  I  wrote  this 
letter,  that  you  was  not  returned  :  a  person  by  the  name  of 
Stow  was  to  call  on  you,  whom  I  recommended  to  you  as 
a  writer,  a  man  of  good  character,  and  who,  as  a  writer, 
will  be  able  to  give  a  good  account  of  himself  to  you.  I 
have  another  case  to  mention  to  you  ;  if  you  have  room 
for  more  writers,  there  is  a  person  of  Clifford's  Inn,  who  is 
of  (sic)  admirably  qualified,  for  quickness,  elegance  etc. 
etc.  Indeed  he  is  qualified  to  possess  a  much  higher 
situation — has  himself  been  in  one — and  will  be  so  again 
soon.  In  the  mean  time,  he  is  now  in  great  want  of  a 
situation  for  a  few  months,  and  it  would  be  great  kindness 
to  find  him  employment.  I  am  not  personally  acquainted 
with  him  myself.  But  my  laundress  is  his  laundress,  and 
from  what  I  have  seen  of  his  writing,  and  know  of  his 
character  and  situation  from  Mrs.  Devonshire,  I  know  you 
could  not  have  a  more  proper  person  to  copy  for  you. 
He  would  I  know  much  rather  have  the  writings  to  his 
own  rooms  to  copy  ;  and  that  perhaps,  might  suit  you  as 
well.  But  of  this  you  will  judge.  If  you  wish  to  know 
more,  pray  favour  me  with  a  fine  or  call,  or  write  to  or  call 
on  "  Mrs.  Devonshire,  Clifford's  Inn."  This  woman  is  kind 
and  good  to  everybody,  and  keeps  his  rooms  for  him,  etc. 
for  at  present  he  is  not  in  chambers.  The  gentleman's 
name  is  Marrill.  I  do  not  spell  his  name  right ;  but  that 
is  no  matter.  If  you  write  to  Mrs.  Devonshire,  or  call 
upon  her,  you  will  either  hear  from,  or  see  him  immediately. 
This  vile  weather,  conspiring  with  my  vile  complaint,  pre- 
vents my  calling  on  you  ;  but  I  will  the  first  opportunity. 
Yours  truly,  G.  Dyer.5 

This  letter  was  sent  by  Rickman  to  Southey  on  Decem- 
ber 4  with  a  delightful  commentary. 

'  .  .  .  Geo.   i.   is   relapsed  into   the   full   enjoyment   of 


94      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

petty  patronage  and  blind  benevolence.  He  went  to  Lamb 
the  other  day,  and  put  1/6  into  his  hand,  explaining  that 
he  had  prevailed  on  somebody  to  buy  the  unfortunate 
Jno.  Woodville  at  that  half  price  (he  Geo.  I.  not  having 
been  desired  to  have  anything  to  do  with  the  sale  of  the 
book).  Lamb  pocketed  the  1/6  with  due  complacency, 
and  G.  D.  concluded  his  exploit  with  saying,  how  little  he 
could  now  do  for  those  he  wished  to  serve  !  I  also  send 
you  herewith  a  recommendatory  letter  from  the  said  Geo.  i. 
which  you  may  place  in  your  Museum  Curiosum  :  the 
man  thus  recommended,  turns  out  to  be  a  spendthrift, 
whose  friends  being  weary  of  paying  his  debts,  he  is  forced 
to  keep  close. 

'  Geo.  ii.  is  unus  and  idem.  He  discovered  that  a  sea- 
life  and  sea-companions  are  very  unworthy  of  his  high 
moral  views  and  intellectual  enjoyment,  and  moreover 
said  he,  I  may  be  ordered  to  the  W.  Indies,  and  then  the 
yellow  fever  !  Said  I,  Why  are  not  you  to  take  your  chance, 
as  do  other  men  ?  You  talk  in  the  second  person,  said 
Geo.  H.  So  his  maritime  views  are  abandoned,  and  he  has 
got  some  appointment  in  a  militia.  For  this  he  wants 
money,  and  wrote  a  begging  circular  to  all  he  knew ;  and 
thinks  himself  justified  in  being  sulky  with  all  who  did  not 
chuse  to  aid  him  in  his  militia  scheme.  I  understood  from 
Carlisle,  that  he  had  properly  stuffed  him  with  surgery 
for  the  occasion  of  some  subordinate  examination  ;  which 
passed,  Carlisle  wished  him  to  expend  the  rest  of  the 
stuffing  on  the  Surgeons'  Hall  Examination,  which  is  final 
for  H.M.  Service.  George  n.  pleaded  want  of  cash,  £3. 
This  appearing  a  usefull  expence,  I  sent  the  needfull  to 
Carlisle,  and  wrote  to  B.  accordingly  ;  but  true  to  himself 
he  refused  the  exertion,  so  that  now  if  promotion  in  the 
miserable  militia  should  be  offered  him,  he  must  again  come 
to  town,  again  study,  and  be  examined  at  last.  I  have 
jyrivate  intelligence  that  W.  T.  [Taylor]  of  Norwich  has  been 
very  munificent  to  this  poor  useless  lofty  wretch.  .  .  .' 

The  incorrigible  G.  B.  had  taken  the  opportunity,  on 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      95 

passing  his  minor  examination,  of  trying  to  raise  loans 
from  all  likely  persons.  Southey  was  annoyed  because 
Burnett  had  applied  to  his  friend  May  for  £30,  without 
even  knowing  him,  and  Poole,  who  was  a  near  neighbour 
of  Burnett's  in  Somerset,  received  the  following  letter, 
which  he  preserved  : — 

'  My  dear  Sir, — I  doubt  not  you  will  be  surprised  to 
receive  a  letter  from  one  of  whom  you  possibly  have  not 
even  heard  for  some  years.  I  have  learned  from  Mr. 
Rickman  the  circumstance  of  your  being  in  town,  as  also 
your  place  of  abode.  The  subject  of  my  present  address 
will  perhaps  still  more  excite  your  wonder.  But  I  will 
not  take  up  your  time  by  needless  apologies,  indeed  my 
only  excuse  for  troubling  you  is  that  of  necessity. 

'  I  have  lately  procured  an  appointment  as  assistant 
surgeon  in  a  Militia  regiment,  but  the  expenses  of  equipment 
are  far  too  considerable  for  my  purse,  which  in  truth  is 
exhausted.  As  the  regiment  is  in  barracks,  and  bedding 
etc.,  in  addition  to  regimentals,  must  be  found  by  the 
officers,  I  have  calculated,  or  rather  it  has  been  done  for 
me,  by  the  person  I  am  to  succeed,  that  not  less  than  £40 
will  be  required  to  furnish  the  perquisites  to  my  entering 
upon  duty.  I  know  not  any  one  among  the  number  of  my 
friends  who  both  can  and  will  advance  me  such  a  sum. 
Indeed  I  have  already  made  some  ineffectual  applications. 
Would  such  a  favour  too  far  exceed  the  limit  of  your 
generosity  ?  My  means  of  repayment  are  these  : — My 
pay  will  be  £2  a  week,  exclusive  of  the  Mess  dinner,  and  as 
the  regiment  is  in  barracks  my  other  expenses  may  be 
comparatively  trifling.  Surely  I  may  save  half  my  pay 
and  devote  it  to  the  liquidation  of  my  debt,  which  I  should 
prefer  doing  by  instalments  as  £4  or  £5  a  month.  In  the 
course  of  a  twelvemonth  at  any  rate  the  whole  may  be 
discharged. 

'  I  have  moreover  a  prospect  of  obtaining  some  literary 
job  from  Phillips  when  I  know  what  exercises  of  this  sort 
will   be  compatible   with   the   above-mentioned    situation. 


96      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

On  this  source  of  repayment  however,  you  perceive,  I  do 
not  rely. 

'  I  have  set  my  heart  on  this  situation,  not  only  because 
it  seems  to  be  my  only  present  resources  for  a  mainten- 
ance but  because  I  feel  a  confidence  that  it  will  rouse  me 
from  that  joyless  torpor  into  which  I  have  been  long 
sunk.  It  is  of  little  consequence  whether  the  situation 
be  desirable,  absolutely  considered,  it  is  enough  that  it 
prove  good  as  a  mean.  The  enchantment  of  Pantiso- 
cracy  threw  a  gorgeous  light  over  the  objects  of  life, 
but  it  soon  disappeared  and  has  left  me  in  the  darkness 
of  ruin  ! 

'  Allow  me  to  request  a  speedy  answer.  I  have  written 
not  with  the  expectation  but  only  with  the  hope  that  your 
kindness  will  oblige. — Your  obedient  servant, 

'  Geo.  Burnett.' 

Poole  apparently  showed  this  to  Rickman,  who  was  very 
incensed  with  Burnett  for  refusing  to  enter  for  the  final 
Surgeons'  Hall  examination.  He  forwarded  Burnett's  reply, 
with  a  note  of  his  own,  to  Poole. 

1  Sir, — The  now  or  never  do  not  appear  to  me  the  only 
possible  alternatives.  Should  I  hereafter  determine  to 
look  forward  to  advancement  in  His  Majesty's  service  it 
would  perhaps  be  advisable  to  take  out  my  diploma.  This 
expense  would  be  considerable  and  I  should  have  an 
objection  to  incurring  what  I  should  deem  an  unnecessary 
obligation.  I  thank  you  however  for  your  good  inten- 
tions and  remain,  yours,  etc. 

1  Was  ever  before  such  an  animal  extant  ?  He  lives  at  27  William 
Street  if  you  chuse  to  give  him  a  drive.  J.  R.' 

Poole  seems  to  have  urged  Burnett  to  do  as  Rickman 
wished ;  whereupon  he  received  the  following  pompous 
communication  : — 

'  Sir, — I  have  now  scarcely  a  doubt  remaining  that  I 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      97 

shall  be  able  to  accomplish  my  own  object.  If  therefore 
an  examination  at  Surgeons'  Hall  should  hereafter  be 
thought  necessary  it  will  be  easy,  at  any  time  during  the 
ensuing  winter  to  get  leave  of  absence  for  a  few  days,  and 
to  come  to  town  for  that  express  purpose.  In  this  case  I 
shall  incur  no  obligation. 

'  You  say  that  in  submitting  myself  to  an  examination 
at  the  present  time  I  shall  oblige  Mr.  Rickman.  Surely 
in  a  matter  which  concerns  my  own  happiness  only  I  have 
a  right  to  choose.  Whether  Mr.  Rickman  designs  me  any 
future  good  is  a  question  impossible  for  me  to  decide.  He 
has  never  treated  me  with  sufficient  respect  and  confidence 
to  declare  any  intentions  he  might  possibly  have  formed 
respecting  me.  For  this  reason  only  therefore  it  behoves 
me  not  to  look  to  him  for  any  future  elevation.  I  have 
moreover  his  positive  declaration  that  I  am  to  expect 
nothing  from  him  under  any  condition.  Besides  I  had 
lately  a  note  from  him  in  which  he  trusts  I  shall  look 
forward  to  advancement  in  the  army  or  navy  only  for 
my  future  means  of  support.  Hence,  unless  there  be 
nothing  in  words  and  declarations,  I  have  nothing  either 
to  hope  or  to  fear  from  Rickman.  If  the  promises  he  has 
given  me  be  just,  I  have  shown  it  would  be  vain  to  hope, 
it  would  be  in  like  manner  absurd  to  fear,  because  I  am 
too  insignificant  a  personage  to  be  thought  worthy  even 
of  Mr.  Rickman's  contempt. 

'  Your  note  evidently  proceeds  on  the  supposition  that 
my  means  of  going  into  the  Militia  will  fail  me.  Allow  me 
also  to  add  that  your  plans,  if  such  they  may  be  called,  as 
well  as  those  of  Rickman,  rest  on  the  opinion  not  only  of 
my  present  incapacity  but  on  the  assumption  likewise  of 
paulo  post  future  incapacity.  This  may  be  the  case  ;  per- 
haps it  is  likely  it  will,  still  I  cannot  help  thinking  that 
such  an  inference  is  not  perfectly  logical.  It  is  now  about 
five  years  since  all  enjoyment  of  life,  that  deserves  the 
name  of  enjoyment,  has  to  me  been  annihilated.  This  is 
a  tyranny  of  condition  which  withers  the  soul  more  than 
can  be  imagined  by  those  whose  situation  in  life  has  been 
G 


98     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

different.  Yet  I  own  that  myself  am  chiefly  to  blame. 
As  soon  as  I  suffered  anxiety  to  make  me  idle  I  grew  con- 
tinually worse  and  worse  till  from  failure  of  memory  I 
had  lost  the  power  of  self -improvement.  Latterly  I  have 
been  gradually  rising  again,  and  I  trust  that  as  soon  as 
I  have  a  definite  situation  I  shall  be  once  more  restored 
to  health,  to  confidence  and  hope.  But  I  forget  that  I 
am  trespassing  upon  your  time. — Yours  etc' 

Meanwhile  Rickman  had  been  showing  Poole  one  of  his 
worst  characteristics — a  harsh  temper.  Poole's  friend,  Tom 
Wedgwood,  who  was  an  invalid,  had  twice  sent  letters 
addressed  to  Poole  under  cover  to  the  Speaker,  in  spite 
of  one  warning.  On  the  second  offence  Rickman  breaks 
out : — 

'  December  3rd,  1803. 

'  Sir, — I  see  a  letter  at  the  Speaker's  directed  to  you 
which  I  believe  came  under  cover  to  him  by  yesterday's 
post.  I  am  sorry  to  believe  that  the  hand- writing  is  the 
same  as  the  former  letter  imperfectly  addressed  to  me, 
and  on  the  receipt  of  which,  (if  my  message  was  not  imper- 
fectly delivered)  I  requested  you  to  write  instantly  to 
stop  any  further  such  unpleasant  occurrence.  I  request 
to  know  of  you  at  what  post  town  this  letter  was  probably 
put  in,  that  I  may  enclose  it  with  a  note  to  Mr.  FreeUng, 
and  desire  him  to  charge  it  properly.  Before  these  instances 
I  never  heard  of  any  person  sending  under  cover  to  another 
without  permission,  and  much  less  to  one  so  much  unknown 
to  you  and  your  correspondent  as  is  the  Speaker,  who  in 
common  decency  is  not  to  be  made  a  letter  carrier.  If 
you  can  give  any  explanation  which  may  take  away  from 
you  any  blame  in  these  two  instances,  I  shall  be  very  glad 
to  receive  it,  when  you  send  me  intelligence  of  the  post 
town  of  this  letter.  Both  for  public  and  private  reasons 
I  shall  be  very  sorry  to  be  compelled  to  think  ill  of  your 
delicacy,  but  I  must  beg  that  you  do  not  attempt  to  see 
me  until  you  have  sent  this  explanation.' 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      99 
Poor  Poole  answered  at  once  : — 

'  I  have  this  instant  received  your  letter  and  I  can 
easily  imagine  good  reasons  for  the  warmth  with  which 
it  is  written,  and  as  easily  convince  you  how  little  of  that 
warmth  ought  to  light  upon  me.  In  the  early  part  of 
our  own  correspondence  you  desired  me  to  address  your 
letters  and  any  papers  which  I  wished  to  send  you  under 
cover  to  the  Speaker,  which  I  of  course  invariably  did. 
When  you  were  in  Hampshire  you  wrote  me  a  letter  advis- 
ing me  to  be  in  town  in  a  few  days  and  at  the  same  time 
proposed  to  me  to  request  some  friend  to  take  lodgings 
for  me  by  the  time  I  came  up.  I  wrote  and  requested 
lodgings  to  be  taken,  but  there  was  not  time  before  it  was 
necessary  that  I  should  leave  home  for  me  to  receive  an 
answer  informing  me  where  these  lodgings  were.  I  knew 
my  business  in  town  would  lead  me  immediately  to  you, 
and  I  knew  too  that  you  would  know  where  I  was,  and  I 
was  not  certain  that  any  other  friend  of  mine  in  town 
would  for  some  days  know  this  fact.  When  I  came  to 
Bristol  I  met  with  Mr.  T.  Wedgwood.  He  asked  me  where 
a  letter  would  immediately  find  me  in  town,  as  he  thought 
he  should  be  obliged  to  write  to  me  the  next  day  requesting 
me  to  go  to  the  War  Office  concerning  a  Volunteer  Corps 
which  he  was  raising  in  Westmorland.  I  told  him  I  did 
not  know  where  I  should  be,  but  that  Mr.  Rickman  would 
know,  and  that  a  letter  under  cover  to  him  would  certainly 
find  me.  I  added,  and  Mr.  Rickman's  address  you  may 
put  under  another  cover  to  the  Speaker.  On  the  very  day 
on  which  I  received  that  letter,  agreeably  to  your  message 
to  me  and  certainly  to  my  own  feelings  I  expressly  informed 
him  that  my  address  was  now  No.  16  Abingdon  Street. 
How  he  omitted  to  attend  to  this  I  am  at  a  loss  to  imagine, 
unless  I  may  suppose  that  he  had  mislaid  my  letter  and 
forgotten  the  address  which  it  contained,  and  yet,  wishing 
to  write  to  me,  had  repeated  his  former  mistake.  I  need 
not  say  that  I  will  write  to  him  expressly  on  the  subject, 
so  soon  as  I  receive  the  letter  which  you  say  was  received 


100    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

yesterday  by  the  Speaker,  and  will  take  care  that  no  repeti- 
tion of  the  circumstance  occurs. 

'  You  have  now  the  sum  of  my  offence,  and  will  appre- 
ciate it  as  you  think  proper.  I  leave  it  to  your  discern- 
ment to  ascertain  the  want  of  delicacy  in  my  conduct 
and  to  determine  how  far  I  was  actuated  by  the  desire  of 
saving  postage.  You  do  not  yet  know  me,  and  your  letter 
was  written  hastily  and  with  unnecessary  asperity.' 

Rickman's  answer  to  this  very  fair  excuse  was  grudging, 
to  say  the  least  of  it. 

'  December  5th,  1803. 

'  My  dear  Sir, — I  send  you  the  Bristol  letter  which  I 
have  released  from  durance  by  reading  your  explanation 
to  the  Speaker.  He  had  already  sent  to  No.  16  Abingdon 
Street  to  enquire  for  his  new  acquaintance,  and  was  to 
keep  the  letter  till  applied  for.  You  do  not  know  how 
much  jealousy  this  affair  of  franks  necessarily  exists  under  ; 
I  myself  remember  once  to  have  opened  a  large  packet  in 
Ireland  supposed  to  be  a  Government  despatch,  which 
contained  a  quantity  of  smuggled  muslin  for  a  maid-servant 
at  the  Castle. 

'  I  am  sorry  that  I  cannot  see  your  justification  in  the 
same  light  that  you  put  it,  since  I  think  that  the  Bristol 
conversation  with  Mr.  W.  was  rather  imprudent  than 
blameable,  and  not  worth  notice,  and  that  the  blame  alto- 
gether rests  on  your  neglect  of  not  distinctly  desiring  your 
friend  not  to  direct  under  cover  again  when  you  found  that 
you  had  brought  my  name  in  question  in  so  disagreeable 
a  manner.  As  to  giving  your  own  direction,  that  had  no 
reference  to  my  desire  nor  to  a  remedy  of  the  evil  com- 
plained of. 

'  I  shall  not  notice  this  provoking  affair  any  further, 
there  are  reasons  enough  of  all  sorts  why  nothing  more 
should  be  said  about  it.' 

Poole's  dignified  answer  seems  to  have  healed  the  breach. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    101 

'  I  cannot  describe  to  you,  my  dear  sir,  the  pain 
which  the  business  of  franks  and  letters  has  given  me  within 
the  last  two  or  three  days.  When  your  harsh  letter  of 
Saturday  arrived  I  was  extremely  ill,  and  little  wanted 
the  assistance  of  mental  irritation  to  render  me  incapable 
of  fully  and  properly  stating  what  I  had  to  say  in  my  defence. 
I  was  conscious  that  I  had  not  swerved  from  all  the  feeling 
of  honour  and  of  delicacy  which  I  had  been  able  to  collect 
by  the  limited  correspondence  which  I  had  had  with  the 
world.  I  contented  myself  therefore  with  stating  the 
simple  facts  on  which  by  some  means  or  another  originated 
my  conduct  and  left  it  to  your  own  clear  discernment  to 
deduce  my  justification,  or  at  least  with  an  excuse  which 
would  satisfy  one  whom  I  thought  a  familiar  friend.  And 
now  what  was  my  offence  ?  It  ivas  taking  a  liberty  with 
you  which  though  it  afterwards  by  W/s  mistake  turned 
out  to  be  taking  a  liberty  with  the  Speaker,  yet  I  was 
utterly  unconscious  that  such  would  be  the  event.  I 
took  this  liberty  with  you  unthinkingly,  it  was  the  only 
result  of  the  kindness  and  confidence  with  which  you  had 
treated  me.  I  considered  (if  I  considered  at  all,  or  rather 
I  felt  without  thought)  that  it  would  be  a  sort  of  affecta- 
tion to  have  a  letter  directed  to  your  house  without  its 
being  under  cover  to  the  Speaker,  so  much  had  I  been  in 
the  habit  of  addressing  everything  which  was  to  come  to 
your  hands  under  his  name,  and  after  all  is  not  this  view 
of  the  subject  very  analogous  to  the  common  one  which 
is  made  of  franks  ?  When  a  man  gets  a  frank,  does  he 
not  make  what  use  of  it  he  pleases  ?  Does  he  not,  (the 
man  of  the  nicest  delicacy)  transmit  in  it  the  letter  of  one 
friend  and  of  another,  all  perfectly  unknown  to  the  member 
who  gives  the  privilege,  and  what  is  the  difference  ?  Only 
that  the  one  is  going  to  the  member,  the  other  is  com- 
ing from  him.  The  accommodation  to  the  person  who 
gives  is  the  same,  the  effect  on  the  public  revenue  is  the 
same. 

'  As  for  the  subsequent  mistakes  of  the  last  two  letters, 
I  am  surprised  at  them.     I  am  sure  from  the  tenor  of  my 


102    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

conversation  with  Wedgwood  he  was  to  direct  to  you  only 
till  I  could  ascertain  my  fixed  abode  in  town,  and  my  fixed 
abode  I  expressly  mentioned  to  him  in  my  first  letter  from 
town,  but  God  forbid  I  should  cast  any  weight  off  my 
shoulders,  merited  or  not,  to  throw  it  upon  his  which  can 
so  ill  support  it.  It  would  make  him  miserable  if  he  knew 
what  I  had  suffered  on  this  occasion.  He  is  already  pressed 
down  with  calamities  which  are  almost  too  great  for  human 
nature  to  bear.  His  case,  considering  his  character,  is  one 
of  those  which  tempt  one  to  rail  against  providence,  and 
to  doubt  the  justice  and  benevolence  of  God.  I  know  not 
that  I  can  say  more  ;  perhaps  you  will  think  I  have  already 
said  too  much.  .  .  . 

'  I  have  now  but  one  thing  to  add  which  I  feel  of  great 
importance.  It  is  that  you  will  obtain  my  pardon  from 
the  Speaker,  and  make  every  due  apology  to  him  for  my 
having  in  a  manner  so  improper,  though  certainly  not 
intended,  obtruded  myself  on  his  notice.  With  this  may 
all  end,  and  I  trust  that  we  shall  be  better  friends,  if  better 
could  be,  than  ever.' 

Early  in  1804  Coleridge  came  up  to  London  on  his  way  to 
Malta.  He  stayed  for  a  short  time  with  Poole  at  Abingdon 
Street,  and  then  migrated  to  Tobin's  house  in  Barnard's 
Inn.  Rickman  writes  to  Southey  of  him  and  others  on 
February  28. 

'  Poor  Coleridge  suffers  from  the  absence  of  steady 
work  ;  and  as  far  as  I  can  perceive  labours  under  a  disease 
(which  is  not  the  Nostalgia)  from  that  cause  only.  Homer 
talks  of  persons  in  grief  "  eating  up  their  own  hearts  " — 
K7)p  <f)i\ov  e%ehwv — and  I  think  a  man  of  vivid  genius, 
idle  in  the  country,  must  always  do  so,  to  the  no  small 
annoyance  of  himself  and  co-habitants.  This  word  reminds 
me  of  George  2nd,  who,  having  reached  his  regiment,  im- 
mediately discovered  that  it  was  not  worth  while  to  retain 
a  situation  "  which  he  might  get  any  day."  So  he  returned 
without  having  purchased  regimentals,  and  now  feeds  on 
money  procured  by  his  mendicant  circular.    Quaere,  Is 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    103 

not  this  to  obtain  money  on  false  pretences  :  uncourteously 
termed  in  the  vulgar  tongue,  swindling  ?  I  understand  that 
he  thinks,  or  pretends  to  think,  that  he  is  going  with  a  Polish 
nobleman  to  Poland,  to  take  care  of  some  books  there.  .  .  . 
Poole  works  on  pretty  well  :  except  that  vanity  in  his  em- 
ployment has  overset  him  more  than  could  have  been 
expected.     But  the  thing  will  be  pretty  well  done.' 

Of  Poole's  little  weakness  Rickman  says  in  another 
letter  : — 

'  His  friends  are  all  invited  to  disturb  the  office  that 
they  may  see  his  greatness  in  it,  and  he  writes  long  useless 
letters  continually  to  the  Under  Secretary  of  State,  or  any 
other  great  man  he  can  find  pretence  to  address.  In  the 
mean  time  his  handwriting  and  his  verbose  indirect  style 
equally  unfit  him  for  official  correspondence.' 

During  February  and  March  Rickman,  who  had  under- 
taken to  find  a  ship  for  Coleridge,  received  nine  letters 
from  that  wayward  genius.  All  are  not  of  equal  interest, 
but  four  are  worthy  of  publication.  It  will  be  seen  that 
Coleridge  too  had  some  little  trouble  about  a  frank ;  but 
Rickman  must  have  refrained  from  hurting  Coleridge's  sen- 
sibilities, for,  in  addition  to  the  warm  expressions  which 
Coleridge  uses,  he  says  in  another  farewell  note  that  he 
will  think  of  Rickman  wherever  he  is  '  in  simple  nakedness 
of  heart.' 

'  Feb.  18,  1804. 
'  My  dear  Sir, — You  were  so  kind  as  to  express  your 
intention  of  gaining  some  information  for  me  from  the 
gentleman,  whom  I  was  so  unlucky  as  to  miss  meeting.  I 
am  not  quite  certain  whether  or  not  I  distinctly  stated  the 
desiderata  : — 1.  Are  there  any  vessels  likely  to  go  to  Malta 
or  Sicily  ?  And  when  ?  Is  there  a  King's  ship  going,  with 
other,  or  by  itself  ?  And  what  chance  have  I  of  procuring 
a  passage  on  board  it  ?  My  object  is  to  reach  Catania  as 
shortly  and  inexpensively,  as  I  can — and  I  suppose,  that  my 


104   LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

only,  or  best,  way  is  to  be  landed  at  Malta,  and  thence  to 
Syracuse  in  a  (by  me  unspellable)  Spallonieri,  which  is  but 
six  hours  voyage.  I  am  at  present  lodged  at  Tobin's  : 
wholly  disengaged,  every  day  but  Friday  next,  and  so  I  shall 
keep  myself.  If  you  should  happen  to  have  even  only  an 
hour  or  two  of  any  of  the  intervening  evenings,  before  we 
meet  at  Tobin's,  it  would  be  a  pleasure  to  me  to  be  with 
you — if  you  would  let  me  know  what  time  you  are  even 
likely  to  be  at  home,  and  really  have  the  time  quite  ad 
libitum.  Of  course,  I  should  not  take  the  liberty  of  saying 
this  but  that  it  will  not  give  me  the  least  pain,  if  your  time 
should  be  wholly  pre-engaged  tho'  it  will  give  me  pleasure 
if  it  should  be  otherwise — and  if  I  did  not  know  enough  of 
you,  and  hope  that  you  know  enough  of  me,  to  believe  that 
you  will  use  no  sort  of  ceremony  whatsoever  ;  indeed,  if  I  do 
not  hear  from  you,  I  shall  take  it  for  granted  that  your  time 
is  anticipated.  I  met  G.  Burnet  this  morning.  It  made 
my  heart  feel  almost  as  if  it  was  going  to  ake  when  I  looked 
at  his  eyes — they  seemed  so  thoroughly  those  of  an  opium 
chewer — Heaven  be  praised,  if  I  am  mistaken — but  he 
talked  so  nervously  and  stated  his  plans  so  very,  very 
helplessly.  He  is  going  to  Poland  with  no  French  in  the 
power  of  his  tongue,  and  much  less,  than  he  himself  supposes 
in  the  power  of  his  eyes — and  as  to  looking  into  a  Sclavonic 
or  German  Grammar — why,  yes  he  had  been  thinking  of  it. 
— Your's  my  dear  Sir  with  unfeigned  esteem, 

'  S.  T.  Coleridge. 

'  I  had  an  excellent  letter  yesterday  from  Southey.  I  know 
no  instance  of  greater  prospects  made  in  vigor  of  mind,  in 
robustness  of  understanding,  than  that  made  by  our  friend 
in  the  last  two  or  three  years/ 

'  Tuesday  Morning  [Feb.  25]. 

'  My  dear  Sir, — I  have  been  day  after  day  about  to 
answer  your  kind  and  to  me  very  interesting  note.  I  had 
called  on  Mr.  Welles,  long  long  before  Southey's  letter — 
indeed  as  early  as  was  necessary.    But  the  general  remark 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    105 

has  truth  in  it,  but  not  as  a  short  [?  word  omitted]  of  my 
original  nature,  neither  does  there  exist  on  earth  a  man 
more  joyous,  more  various,  in  my  enjoyments  of  retired 
life,  than  I  am.  I  have  not  been  for  some  years  without 
great  objects — and  my  indolence  has  almost  altogether 
arisen  from  my  having  been  too  constantly  forced  off 
from  these  objects — but  enough  !  You  will  forgive  me  this 
little  escape  of  feeling — I  have  felt  in  your  society  a  feeling 
of  confidence  which  I  never  felt  in  so  short  an  acquaintance, 
even  in  my  younger  days — a  feeling  arising,  no  doubt,  in 
great  part  from  the  familiarity  of  your  name  to  my  ears, 
from  Lamb  and  Southey,  the  two  men,  whom  next  to 
Wordsworth,  I  love  the  best  in  the  world.  I  have  said  this 
even  to  you  and  fearless  :  indeed,  I  apprehend  that  we 
seldom  fear  to  say  anything  that  we  can  say  with  the  whole 
heart.  I  have  sent  you  some  essays  written  at  different 
times  in  the  M.  Post — but  the  best  are  unfortunately  not 
there,  especially  the  character  of  Pitt  and  one  on  Lord 
Grenville's  Politus,  which  I  have  never  been  able  to  think 
meanly  of,  and  (shame  on  me,  if  I  speak  with  any  affected 
humility)  to  think  meanly  of  what  I  have  written,  almost 
immediately  after  the  hot  fit  of  composition,  is  ever  a 
disease  of  my  mind.  Those,  I  suppose  that  will  stand  the 
best  chance  of  interesting  you  are  [on]  Mr.  Poole's  Defence 
of  Farmers. 

'  As  soon  as  my  Volunteer  Essays,  and  whatever  of  a 
Vindiciae  Addingtonianae  I  can  effect  by  simple  attacks 
of  the  antagonists  of  [that]  Minister,  are  published,  they 
shall  be  sent  to  you  without  fail.  If  you  have  heard  any- 
thing of  the  ship  for  Malta,  you  will  be  so  good  as  to  give 
me  a  fine  from  9  in  the  morning  till  4  o'clock.  My  best 
address  is,  Mr.  Coleridge,  Courier  Office,  Strand.  After  that 
time  No.  7,  Barnard's  Inn,  Holborn.  .  .  . — Believe  me,  dear 
Sir,  your's  very  sincerely,  S.  T.  Coleridge. 


1 1  spent  yester-evening  with  Lamb — and  shall  be  there 
this  evening  sans  fail.' 


106    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

'  Wednesday,  March  14,  1804. 

'My  dear  Sir, — I  thank  you  for  your  kind  note.  I 
received  the  letter  duly.  To-morrow  I  must  dine  with 
Stuart,1  as  I  shall  be  at  his  office  arranging  my  own  concerns 
till  the  very  hour  of  dinner  ;  but  I  will  be  with  you  by  a 
quarter  before  7  infallibly,  and  Mary  with  Lamb  will  come 
with  me.  .  .  .  The  East  India  House  has  very  politely 
made  me  a  present  thro'  Mr.  Charles  Lamb,  an  Eminent  in 
the  Indian  Service,  of  a  hundred  or  so  of  pens  ;  and  if  the 
H.  of  Commons  would  do  the  same,  with  a  stick  or  two  of 
wax,  in  short,  any  little  additament  that  might  be  made 
instrumental  in  the  service  of  G.  Britain  by  spreading  and 
increasing  its  literary  action  upon  the  world,  I  should 
consider  as  a  flattering  mark  of  respect  from  that  Honor- 
able Assembly — and  should  prize  it  considerably  more  than 
ever  a  Vote  of  Thanks  and  recommendation  for  a  title — 
unless  a  good  warm  salary  or  estate  were  the  gilt  lace  to  my 
Coat  of  Arms. — Yours,  my  dear  sir,  with  affectionate  well 
wishing  and  sincere  esteem,  S.  T.  Coleridge/ 

'  7,  Barnard's  Inn,  Tobin's, 

1  Monday,  March  26,  1804. 

1  My  dear  Sir, — I  have  crawled  hither,  and  having 
crawled  on  to  the  Strand,  to  Stuart's,  I  must  be  carried 
back.  I  have  again  been  miserably  ill  .  .  .  but  I  am 
literally  sick  of  thinking,  talking,  and  writing  about  my  own 
miserable  carcase.  I  have  received  orders  from  the  Captain 
instantly  to  take  my  place  for  Portsmouth,  at  the  latest 
to  be  at  Portsmouth  by  Wednesday  early-morning.  Ac- 
cordingly, I  have  taken  my  place  by  the  Tuesday's  evening 
Mail.  So  much  of  myself. — As  to  the  pacquets  the  greatest 
part  by  far  of  my  suffering  arise  from  my  imagination 
having  conjured  up  very  livelily  the  possibility  of  your 
having  been  placed  in  an  uneasy  situation — in  an  indelicate 
one  for  you,  and  there  seemed  such  a  dreadful  unappropri- 
ateness  in  your  character  to  the  very  pretence  of  such  a 

1  Editor  of  the  Morning  Post. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    107 

thing,  that  I  at  first  and  till  I  received  your  letter,  fretted 
about  it.  My  dear  sir  !  I  am  on  the  point  of  leaving  my 
friends,  children,  country — and  in  a  very  weak  state  of 
health,  and  that  my  mind  is  rather  in  a  sad  and  somewhat 
solemn  mood,  will  appear  to  most  people  no  other  than 
natural.  Whether  I  return  is  to  my  own  feelings  uncertain. 
If  I  had  stayed,  I  know  that  I  should  have  had  your  friend- 
ship, if  not  in  the  highest,  yet  definedly  not  in  the  common- 
place sense  of  the  word,  for  I  should  have  appeared  to  you 
finally  as  I  am,  and  of  the  sum-total  of  that  I  am  not  ashamed. 
Of  yourself  let  me  say  a  few  words  to  you,  at  a  minute, 
when  I  am  incapable  of  even  thinking  a  thought  not  accorded 
to  by  my  earnest  conviction.  I  had  been  taught  to  form 
a  high  opinion  of  you  by  two  men,  whom  I  love  and  know, 
and  I  leave  you  with  a  far  higher.  All  your  habits  both 
of  action  and  feeling,  your  whole  code  of  self-government — 
would  to  God  I  could  but  imitate  them  as  entirely  as  I 
approve  of  them  !  If  I  had  written,  admire  them,  you  ought 
not  to  have  been  disgusted,  for  approbation  accompanied 
by  a  sense  of  the  difficulty  would  make  no  very  bad  de- 
finition of  admiration. — But  I  am  as  weak  at  heart  as  in 
body  and  must  have  .  .  .  [illegible].  If  I  see  anything 
in  Malta  or  Sicily  likely  to  interest  you,  be  assured,  that  all 
my  habits  of  indolence  will  not  be  strong  enough  to  prevent 
me  from  communicating  them  to  you.  I  inclose  W.  Taylor's 
letter.  It  is  a  very  sensible  one — every  one  must  have  his 
prepossessions.  My  coolest  retrospects  do  not  furnish  me 
with  anything  decisive  in  favour  of  Mr.  Fox,  either  as  a  wise 
or  a  good  man. — God  bless  you,  my  dear  Sir,  I  shall  ever 
remain,  with  affectionate  esteem  your  friend  and  present 
well-wisher,  S.  T.  Coleridge.' 

On  Coleridge's  departure  Rickman  comments  thus  to 
Southey  : — 

<  Mar.  26th,  1804. 

1 1   have  just   heard  from  Coleridge,  that   he  goes  for 
Portsmouth   to-morrow  evening.      He  is  very  unwell   in 


108    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

body  and  his  mind  very  depressed,  and  very  excitable 
by  objects  to  other  men  scarce  visible  or  feelable.  Your 
prudence  nail  not  tell  this  to  his  fireside,  and  the  voyage 
may  cure  him.  If  he  dies,  it  will  be  from  a  sulky  imagina- 
tion, produced  from  the  general  cause  of  such  things  ;  i.e. 
want  of  regular  work  or  application  :  which  is  great  pity. 
Happening  to  look  into  the  Lyrical  Ballads  the  other  day, 
there  was  (under  the  title  "  Lines  left  on  Seat  under  a  Yew 
Tree  ")  an  account  of  somebody  so  written  as  to  be  very 
evidently  a  self-portrait — Wordsworth's  I  believe  ;  and  the 
same  would  not  be  very  un-true  of  Coleridge.  It  is  certainly 
to  admire  Nature  in  the  country  too  much,  when  it  leads  us 
into  final  Evil,  and  self-discontent,  so  founded  as  those 
lines  demonstrate  to  be  felt,  and  justly  felt,  can  hardly  be 
denied.  Why  should  not  the  beauties  of  Nature  be  to  a 
grown  thinking  man,  what  play  hours  are  at  school  ? 
Then  no  harm  would  be  done,  and  the  world  would  not 
lose  men  capable  of  being  the  most  usefull  members  of 
society.  Miserable  contemplations  these  !  !  !  Farewell ! 
Let  us  not  cease  to  work,  and  let  imagination  work  only 
when  it  will  work.' 

Two  letters  of  this  summer,  written  to  Southey  and 
Poole  respectively,  show  Rickman's  opinion  of  the  new 
Government  of  Pitt.     To  Southey  : — 

'  May  4th,  1804. 

'  .  .  .  Perhaps  you  will  expect  that  I  should  say  some- 
thing of  the  expected  new  Administration  ;  but  it  is  not 
out  yet  ;  and  I  rather  think  Dominus  Rex  holds  out.  It 
is  said,  that  his  royal  stomach  can  digest  one  disagreeable 
morsel,  but  that  Pitt  and  Fox  at  once  are  too  much  for  him.1 
In  the  mean  time  this  is  so  compleatly  rumour,  that  I  myself 
do  not  happen  to  believe  that  Fox  will  be  proposed  to  him 
at  all.  I  like  Fox  better  than  I  did,  for  having  joined  his 
ancient  foe  Pitt  on  the  needfull  occasion  of  ousting  such 

1  This  was,  of  course,  the  case.  The  King  expressly  refused  to  admit 
Fox. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    109 

disgraceful!  and  dangerous  fools  and  Court-favourites  as  we 
have  now  been  governed  by  a  long  three  years.  Our  nation 
was  approaching  vilification  at  a  great  rate.  I  hope  that 
we  have  seen  the  last  experiment  of  Court  appointment 
of  an  Administration.  Messrs.  Addington,  Yorke,1  and 
Hobart  2  at  London,  and  Mr.  Drake  3  at  Munich  !  Tpta- 
fxeytcrToi  UaWe? !  It  is  a  load  off  the  mind,  to  have  been 
lightened  of  such  pitifull,  mean,  sneaking,  shuffling  fellows. 
They  just  went  out  in  time  to  prevent  the  P.  of  W.  putting 
in  for  a  large  share  of  power.  That  virtuous  character  is 
not  now  likely  to  gain  anything  by  his  policy  and 
machinations,  which  have  been  incessant  lately.  If  the 
new  Ministry  should  be,  what  it  may  by  possibility  be, 
we  shall  not  for  some  time  have  to  fear  this  man,  even 
though  he  should  become  King.' 

To  Poole  :— 

'  August  Uth,  1804. 

'  Your  letter  has  followed  me  into  Sussex  where  I  am 
trying  to  be  as  idle  as  I  can  for  a  week  or  two.  I  desire 
among  other  things  to  see  the  harvest,  but  the  sight  is  bad 
and  the  prospect  not  very  good,  for  the  present  weather  is 
unfavourable  and  the  blight  you  speak  of  very  visible  here. 
I  think  Billy  Pitt  will  be  glad  that  the  Corn  Law  No.  1  was 
lost,  else  he  would  have  heard  more  than  he  wished  of  it 
at  Xmas.  That  the  natural  rise  of  price  had  actually  pre- 
vented export  would  have  aided  him  little  with  the  mob, 
whose  opinion  and  that  of  the  House  of  Commons  are  the 
only  opinions  he  cares  for.  Your  friend  Mr.  Giddy  published 
a  short  pamphlet  about  the  Corn  Law  as  now  passed.  If 
there  are  people  of  good  sense  on  both  sides  of  the  question 
we  have  the  better  chance  for  improvement  in  knowledge 
if  not  in  practice.  Indeed  that  may  be  further  off,  the 
Government  of  Britain  not  being  yet  civilised  enough  to 
have    advanced    beyond    temporary    considerations    and 

1  Charles  Yorke,  M.P.  for  Cambridge  ;  then  Secretary  at  War. 

2  Lord  Hobart,  ex-governor  of  Madras ;  Secretary  for  War  and  Colonies 
in  Addington's  ministry.     In  1804  he  became  Earl  of  Buckinghamshire. 

3  British  envoy  at  Munich. 


110    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

imperfect  shifts  in  everything.  I  am  sure  our  country  will 
be  ruined  before  the  benefit  and  indeed  present  necessity 
of  official  government  and  comprehensive  arrangement  of 
our  mighty  power  and  capabilities  be  enforced.  A  sleepy 
Government  of  Quietism  will  not  be  safe  again  until  France 
by  some  accident  becomes  once  more  badly,  that  is  in- 
efficiently, governed.  .  .  . 

'  At  present  I  am  much  dissipated  in  mind.  Wanting 
to  write  something  of  some  half  dozen  things  I  write  nothing, 
chiefly  because  I  know  not  which  to  begin  with,  and  partly 
because,  though  sure  of  my  foundations  I  have  not  had 
time  so  to  establish  each  particular  part  as  to  be  fit  for 
examination.  I  have  a  great  mind  to  write  of  many  things 
just  as  far  as  I  know  them  and  just  as  I  talk  of  them,  and 
then  see  if  the  medley  seems  worth  mending.  When  I 
have  made  up  my  mind  about  this  you  shall  know  that  you 
may  see  I  am  not  unwilling,  but  much  more  really  unable 
to  do  well  what  much  wants  doing.  Be  sure  I  have  a  keen 
appetite  to  methodise,  or  at  least  to  point  out  methods  for 
the  good  management  of  our  noble  country  in  many  reforms 
of  our  neglected  Government  of  the  interior  ;  a  waste  of 
half  our  national  energy.' 

In  May  Southey  came  to  London,  where  he  met  Captain 
Burney  at  Rickman's.  The  first  letter  after  his  departure 
contains  a  passage  characteristic  of  Rickman's  utter  dis- 
belief in  the  honesty  of  all  reformers. 

'  Do  you  think  that  the  verminous  Wilberforce  really 
expected  to  carry  through  his  Slave  Trade  Bill  ?  *  Or 
that  he  introduced  it  so  late  in  the  Session  that  he  might 
augment  his  odour  of  sanctity  and  philanthropy  etc., 
among  his  devotees,  and  yet  the  slaves  might  still  be  carried 
to  the  W.  Indies  ?  You  will  observe  that,  had  he  intro- 
duced it  directly  after  Xmas,  it  might  ere  now  have  been 
law.  Oh  !  Smithfield  and  fiery  faggots  for  that  Holy  Man  ! 
I  would  willingly  exalt  him  into  a  martyr.' 

1  It  passed  its  third  reading  in  the  Commons  on  June  27,  but  was  thrown 
out  in  the  Lords. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    111 

The  only  other  news  of  1804  was  that  Burnett  really 
did  go  to  Poland,  and  earned  for  himself  the  nickname  of 
Count  Burnetski.  He  was  for  nine  months  a  kind  of 
private  secretary  to  Count  Zamoyski  at  his  country  estate. 
The  result  of  this  voyage  was  a  series  of  letters  to  the 
London  Magazine,  which  appeared  in  1807  as  a  book 
entitled  A  View  of  the  Present  State  of  Poland.  The  reader 
of  this  book,  knowing  Burnett's  character,  will  be  surprised 
at  the  sanity  and  vividness  of  his  writing.  It  is  a  most 
lively  description  of  social  life  in  Poland,  which  shows  that 
Burnett,  in  spite  of  his  faults,  was  truly  a  man  of  parts. 
In  October  1805  he  returned  to  England,  violently  in  love 
with  a  Polish  princess,  as  South ey  told  Rickman.  This  was 
probably  Princess  Czartoriska,  of  whom  there  is  a  glowing 
portrait  in  the  book.  For  a  few  years  after  his  return 
Burnett  lived  quite  an  exemplary  life  of  labour.  He  pro- 
duced his  best  known  work,  Specimens  of  English  Prose 
Writers  to  the  End  of  the  Seventeenth  Century,  in  1807,  and 
in  1809  a  new  edition  of  Milton's  prose  works.  Both  of 
these  books  show  considerable  erudition  and  acuteness  of 
criticism. 

During  1805  there  are  several  letters  from  Rickman 
to  Poole,  who  had  left  London,  having  completed  his  task. 
Besides  his  own  extra  labours — the  secretaryships  to  two 
Royal  Commissions  for  constructing  the  Caledonian  Canal 
and  for  building  roads  and  bridges  in  the  Highlands — of 
which  I  shall  say  more  anon,  and  a  few  allusions  to  politics, 
the  chief  subject  was  one  Phillips,  who  had  been  employed 
by  Poole  as  a  clerk  on  the  Poor  Law  business,  and  who 
was  now  in  debt.  Rickman  took  up  with  regard  to  him  the 
same  attitude  of  stern  benevolence  that  he  did  to  Burnett. 
He  was  wilhng  to  help  him  on  the  condition  that  no  sen- 
timental friends  interfered,  and  that  Phillips  worked  out 
his  own  salvation.  Ned  Phillips  was  a  friend  of  Lamb, 
and  we  know  from  Lamb's  letters  that  he  was  disappointed 
a  few  years  later  of  some  official  post  in  the  employment 
of  the  Royal  Society.  But  his  salvation  came  in  1814, 
when  he  succeeded  Rickman  as  Speaker's  Secretary,  a  post 


112    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

in  which  he  continued  certainly  till  1833.1  Lamb  com- 
mented on  this  change  of  fortune  with  great  joy  to 
Coleridge  in  a  letter  of  August  13,  1814.  This  particular 
passage  is  only  newly  discovered,  and  is  printed  by  Mr. 
Lucas  (Works  of  C.  and  M.  Lamb,  vii.  972).  Lamb 
says  that  '  poor,  card-playing  Phillips,'  who  was  always 
hopelessly  in  debt  and  down  on  his  luck,  can  hardly  believe 
his  good  fortune  ;  so  much  so  that  cribbage  has  lost  its 
interest  for  him,  since  he  no  longer  plays  for  to-morrow's 
dinners  or  the  price  of  necessary  clothes.  The  one  condition 
imposed  was  that  he  should  remain  single.  '  Here,'  says 
Lamb,  '  I  smell  Rickman,'  for  Phillips  had  already  made 
one  most  unfortunate  marriage. 

It  must  have  been  gratifying  to  Rickman  after  his  failure 
with  Burnett  to  find  his  caustic  methods  succeed  with 
another  ne'er-do-weel. 

The  first  letter  to  Poole  in  1805  is  dated  May  12. 

'  .  .  .  I  am  obliged  to  you  for  hunting  country  materials 
for  my  purpose,  and  that  you  write  with  satisfaction  at  your 
own.  I  am  sorry  to  think  that  I  shall  have  little  opportunity 
of  communing  with  you  here  about  that  or  anything  else, 
I  shall  be  so  painfully  busy  for  the  next  three  weeks.  The 
Caledonian  Canal  and  Scotch  Roads  both  now  claim  an 
annual  report  of  me,  and  the  materials  of  the  labour  have 
been  expected  in  vain  for  three  weeks.  When  they  come 
(tomorrow  I  hope)  I  must  set  to  work  for  ten  hours  a  day 
for  some  time.  .  .  . 

'  I  am  almost  low  spirited  at  thinking  of  the  threatened 
pressure  of  labour  before  me,  but  suppose  that  as  usual 
when  at  it  I  shall  forget  that  sensation  in  my  eagerness  and 
haste.  However  you  must  not  say  anything  of  brain 
work  to  me  till  I  have  accomplished  my  task.  Highland 
improvement  is  a  good  thing,  but  not  for  my  conveni- 
ence. .  .  . 

'  Southey's  Madoc  has  been  out  some  time  ;   a  bad  book  ; 

1  He  made  a  return  of  his  salary  to  the  Committee  on  the  Offices  of  the 
House  of  Commons  which  sat  in  that  year. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  HICKMAN    113 

I  cannot  read  it  through,  and  as  I  dislike  to  tell  him  so  it 
will  be  long  ere  I  write  to  him  about  it. 

'  Politics  go  on  badly  ;  Pitt  stays  in  because  the  King 
and  most  of  his  subjects  are  afraid  of  Bonaparte's  friend 
and  advocate,  C.  J.  Fox.  The  Catholics  petition  tomorrow. 
Impudent  slaves  of  the  Pope  to  ask  for  more  than  Protestant 
Dissenters  have.     They  will  have  their  one  answer  I  trow.' 

Rickman  did  tell  Southey.  His  criticism  is  contained 
in  a  long  letter  of  June  27,  in  which  he  says  : — 

'  About  Madoc  :  I  am  very  glad  to  hear  that  the  world 
admires  it  and  buys  it ;  though  in  reading  it  I  confess  I 
cannot  discover  that  it  is  in  any  degree  so  good  as  your 
two  former  poems  which  I  have  read  lately  by  way  of 
comparison.  .  .  .  The  Virgilian  Preface  very  oddly  (as  I 
think)  sets  forth  the  planting  of  Christianity  in  America. 
It  is  in  the  license  of  poetry  to  vary  circumstances 
and  to  insert  incidents,  but  surely  not  to  predicate  a 
result  notoriously  false.  .  .  .  Besides  this,  I  much  dis- 
like the  sort  of  nameless  division  you  have  adopted,  and 
the  want  of  numbering  the  lines.  .  .  .  Neither  do  I  like 
the  metaphysical  kind  of  preachings  produced  by  your 
Welshmen  for  the  instruction  of  savages.  .  .  .  There  are 
many  sparkling  well- finished  passages,  most  of  which  I 
had  seen  before  ;  the  rest  seems  filled  up  with  a  very  ill- 
assorted  betweenity.' 

Southey,  it  must  be  said,  took  this  very  well ;  he  knew, 
of  course,  that  Rickman  was  no  judge  of  poetry. 
Poole's  next  letter  is  wholly  of  Phillips. 

'  tih  July,  1805. 

'  I  write  chiefly  because  you  write  as  'pleading  for  Phillips. 
The  truth  is  that  neither  you  nor  anybody  can  be,  or 
can  make  me,  better  inclined  to  serve  him  than  I  am  ;  my 
little  pettishness  does  not  interfere  with  serious  calamities. 
It  is,  that  nothing  can  be  done,  not  that  I  am  unwilling  to 
do  all  in  my  power.  Who  can  serve  him,  who  heedlessly, 
H 


114    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

or,  as  you  better  say,  through  languor  in  money  matters, 
travels  the  road  to  ruin  ?  Alas  !  the  end  of  that  road  is 
not  difficult  to  reach  !  I  am  very  glad,  however,  to  know 
of  the  debt  to  you  and  Dalton  ;  there  is  not  the  least  occa- 
sion that  you  should  mention  the  intelligence  to  Phillips, 
but  I  wish  you  would  desire  Purkis  to  pay  me  £16  less  than 
£50  equal  £34.  In  a  better  posture  of  his  affairs  I  should 
have  great  reason  to  be  angered  with  Phillips  for  contract- 
ing debts  with  anybody  whom  he  knows  only  through  me. 
In  such  case  though  one's  name  is  not  used  the  influence  is 
felt,  and  I  am  extremely  glad  not  to  have  that  kind  of  half 
debt  (so  incurred  for  me  without  my  knowledge)  on  my 
mind.  I  hope  Dalton  will  lend  him  no  more.  I  am  not 
surprised  that  I  never  knew  the  extent  of  Phillips'  embarrass- 
ment, but  I  am  truly  surprised  to  find  now,  that  after  he 
was  sensible  I  was  near  upon  breaking  with  him  at  his 
wife's  death  for  sending  her  60  miles  in  a  hearse,  and  after 
his  protestation  then  given  to  a  common  friend  that  his 
wife's  mother  was  not  to  be  any  kind  of  expense  to  him, 
to  find  that  the  woman  remained  a  burden  on  him  to  her 
death,  and — incredible  ! — that  he  sent  her  down  when 
dead  60  miles  after  her  daughter  !  I  detested  this  vulgar 
old  woman  because  she  conveyed  to  Phillips  his  wife's 
desire  to  be  buried  at  Towcester.  If  his  wife  did  so  desire 
(which  I  believe  not)  the  mother  should  have  stifled  such 
a  heinous  folly  uttered  in  the  half  delirium  of  approaching 
death  ; — if  the  wife  did  not  so  desire,  what  a  horrid  fiction, 
big  with  ruin  to  the  man  who  with  romantic  generosity 
married  a  woman  distressed,  who  had  been  refused  to  him 
till  that  happened.  I  write  myself  into  a  passion  thinking 
of  this  low-lived  creature. 

'  The  sum  total  of  evil  (so  far  as  I  can  collect)  is  that  to 
do  any  good  to  Phillips  £200  down  and  £200  a  year  is  the 
lowest  reasonable  computation ;  this  being  out  of  the 
question,  he  must  cease  to  consider  himself  as  capable  of 
relief,  and  I  think  should  enter  himself  as  a  marine  ;  for 
that  is  the  best  service  for  a  man  who  cannot  dig  or  beg, 
and  whose  imprudence  has  made  him  incurable,  and  must 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    115 

keep  him  so.     Prevent  Dalton  from  lending  him  any  more 
and  do  not  throw  away  any  money  in  vain  yourself.' 

On  August  21,  in  a  letter  to  Poole  which  alludes  to 
the  party  negotiations  of  Pitt,  who  had  been  having 
trouble  in  his  Cabinet  since  the  vote  of  censure  on  Melville 
(at  which  Rickman's  '  chief '  gave  the  casting  vote), 
the  Secretary  grows  melancholy  about  his  own  labours. 
He  complains  that  he  has  been  wasting  precious  hours  doing 
work  '  not  above  the  capacity  of  an  attorney's  clerk,'  and 
continues  : — 

'  I  heartily  wish  you  were  not  in  a  mistake  about  the 
possibility  of  my  doing  any  part  of  my  business  by  proxy. 
So  very  small  a  portion  of  it  could  be  so  done  that  the 
attempt  is  hopeless.  Of  course  I  am  much  discontented 
at  this  and  since  the  prorogation  have  discovered  myself 
to  have  been  most  basely  and  injuriously  treated  where 
it  was  least  to  be  expected,  but  I  am  caught  in  a  net  from 
which  I  do  not  see  the  term  of  my  liberation.  My  vexa- 
tion at  this  and  other  things  has  been  very  heavy  upon 
me  lately  so  that  I  am  scarcely  fit  for  anything,  and  you 
must  accordingly  excuse  any  seeming  inattention.  Say 
nothing  of  this  to  anyone,  nor  notice  it  to  myself.' 

The  chief  event  of  1805  for  Rickman  was  his  marriage, 
though  he  would  not  have  his  friends  consider  it  so.  The 
lady  of  his  choice  was  Miss  Susannah  Postlethwaite  of 
Harting  in  Sussex.  Rickman  had  intended  to  marry  her 
for  some  time,  but  he  speaks  of  what  was,  in  many  senses  of 
the  term,  a  happy  marriage  in  a  most  obstinately  matter-of- 
fact  spirit.  In  September  1804  he  had  written  to  Southey  : 
'  I  have  some  intention  of  writing  into  the  country  for  a 
wife  ;  but  have  not  quite  made  up  my  mind  about  it ' ;  and 
he  spent  Christmas  of  that  year  at  Harting,  as  the  addresses 
on  his  letters  show.  The  truth  was  that  he  was  tired  of 
being  uncomfortable  with  '  Aunt  Beaumont  and  a  maid,' 
he  was  in  a  permanent  and  honourable  position  with  a 
certain  income,  and  his  friends,  as  he  told  his  daughter  in 


116    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

after  years,  thought  the  time  had  come  to  marry  ;  and 
so  he  did,  not  without  misgivings.  On  October  23,  in  the 
course  of  a  letter  to  Southey,  he  says  :  '  You  will  find  here 
an  additional  person  to  welcome  you,  as  I  lately  imported  a 
wife  from  the  country  by  way  of  experiment  :  I  think  it 
will  answer  :  we  shall  see.  I  know  you  are  on  the  side 
of  matrimony.'  His  announcement  of  the  '  experiment ' 
to  Poole  is  lost,  but  Poole  seems  to  have  replied  with 
congratulations  a  trifle  too  sentimental  for  the  sturdy 
Rickman.     I  close  this  chapter  with  Rickman's  reply. 

'  30th  October  1805. 

'  I  ought  to  notice  your  last  letter  first  and  very  heartily 
thank  you  for  the  good  wishes  it  contains,  as  does  the 
lady  who  shares  in  them.  You  seem  to  think  I  have  had 
various  speculations  or  intentions  in  the  affair  of  marriage, 
but  it  is  not  so,  for  I  have  done  it  quite  in  commonplace 
way,  except  it  may  not  be  common,  that  the  main  ingredient 
determining  my  choice  was  not  love  or  gain — but  an  esteem 
of  very  long  standing — having  been  well  acquainted  with 
the  lady  who  has  consented  to  migrate  hither  rather  more 
than  a  dozen  years,  and  having  always  perhaps  had  so 
much  influence  over  her  as  to  cause  her,  sensibly  or  insen- 
sibly, to  do  and  to  think  very  much  after  my  own  taste. 
So  that  when  you  come  to  town  you  may  expect  to  see  a 
person  not  much  unlike  myself,  abating  that  portion  of 
violence  or  eagerness  which  I  would  not  encourage  in  petti- 
coats. As  to  reasons  for  marrying  now  and  not  before, 
they  have  chiefly  been  founded  on  not  having  been  at  all 
satisfied  with  my  vile  employment  in  the  House  of  Commons, 
and  reckoning  myself  therefore  but  a  sojourner  in  this 
house,  which  otherwise  seemed  to  ask  for  a  mistress  from 
the  day  I  took  possession  of  it.  At  last  I  thought  that 
half  the  age  which  David  assigns  to  us  permitted  not  pro- 
longed delay,  and  I  have  taken  the  chance  of  events,  only 
unwillingly  as  feeling  myself  hereby  rather  more  fastened 
to  the  House  of  Commons,  because  every  woman  loves  to 
remain  in  a  good  house,  and  the  lady  in  question  has  im- 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    117 

ported  a  country  taste  for  plants  and  a  neat  garden  which 
can  be  indulged  here.  You  perceive  by  all  this  that  I 
have  nothing  to  say  of  marriage  in  general,  much  a  creature 
of  circumstance  I  should  think — and  I  daresay,  knowingly 
or  not — circumstance  has  chiefly  made  you  think  of  it.  It 
seems  to  me  a  comfortable  thing,  but  I  have  not  so  much 
to  say  of  rapture  as  you  seem  to  expect — and  heartily  glad 
am  I  of  that — having  a  more  permanent  possession  in  a 
more  lasting  affection  from  sources  of  slower  growth  and 
slower  decay  than  that.  .  .  . 

'  Public  news  !  God  help  us — decision  against  indecision 
has  had  the  usual  success  1  and  the  mighty  coalition  of 
mighty  powers  stat  Nominis  Umbra  !  You  know  I  think 
not  the  term  of  our  national  existence  very  long,  unless  we 
most  unexpectedly — I  had  almost  said  impossibly — alter 
our  deliberative  form  of  Government.  The  continental 
vortex  is  enlarged  and  no  Government  but  an  absolute 
Government  can  oppose  absolute  power  now  organised 
into  the  machine  of  a  large  French  army  in  which  tem- 
porary derangement  causes  little  defect — whose  temporary 
success  ensures  future  success  ad  infinitum.' 

1  Rickman  obviously  refers  to  Ulrn,  and  ignores  the  effects  of  Trafalgar. 


CHAPTER   V 

Family  life  at  Westminster — A  stern  father — The  houses  in  Palace  Yard — 
Church  parade — Late  dinner — The  Burneys  and  other  friends — 
Lamb's  Wednesday  evenings — Driving  in  the  gig — Telford — Rick- 
man's  official  work. 

Hickman's  marriage  practically  closed  his  chapter  of  adven- 
tures. The  few  chances  and  changes  of  his  uneventful  life 
— the  choice  of  a  career,  the  first  census,  the  Irish  secre- 
taryship— were  over  ;  the  great  friendship  of  his  life  had 
been  firmly  wrought ;  he  had  won  the  affection  of  Lamb, 
Coleridge,  Poole,  William  Taylor,  and  the  Burneys.  It  is 
possible  that  Westminster,  with  its  '  bag  and  sword  '  and 
all  that  they  implied,  would  not  have  kept  him  long  had  he 
remained  a  bachelor.  He  wished  himself,  and  his  friends 
wished  him,  in  a  more  efficient  position.  But  marriage 
made  a  permanent  income  necessary  ;  it  was  the  anchor 
which  held  him  to  his  official  life ;  so  that,  during  all  that 
period  of  our  history  which  was  disturbed  first  by  war 
with  France,  then  by  agricultural  distress  and  riots,  and 
finally  by  the  agitation  for  Parliamentary  reform,  Rickman, 
however  agitated  in  mind,  however  fearful  of  a  revolution 
more  terrible  than  the  French,  however  infuriated  against 
rabid  Whigs  and  weak  Tories,  however  oppressed  by 
accumulating  labours,  passed  the  remainder  of  his  days  in 
the  outwardly  tranquil  enjoyment  of  a  stable  and  assured 
position,  which  he  held  even  till  his  last  breath.  I  have 
therefore  thought  it  permissible  to  depart  for  a  moment 
from  the  historical  order  of  events  which  the  sequence  of 
letters  forces  upon  us,  and  to  give  a  general  picture  of 
Rickman's  domestic  and  social  life  at  Westminster  between 
the  time  of  his  marriage  and  the  burning  of  the  Houses  of 
Parliament  in  1834. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    119 

The  entirely  unromantic  marriage  was,  so  far  as  can 
be  judged  from  letters,  a  most  successful  '  experiment.' 
Mrs.  Rickman  was  obviously  content  to  be  under  her  hus- 
band's thumb  and  to  be  patronised  as  the  weaker  vessel — 
domestic  happiness  would  have  been  otherwise  impossible 
for  the  masterful  Rickman — though  no  doubt  she  was  not 
blind  to  his  faults  nor  averse  to  leading  him  with  tact. 
She  bore  him  four  children,  three  girls  and  a  boy,  and  she 
died  in  1836.  The  daughter  Martha  died  young  in  1810, 
but  Ann  and  Frances  and  William,  the  son,  outlived  their 
father  by  many  years.  Mrs.  Rickman  seems  to  have  been 
favourably  received  by  the  friends  of  her  husband's  bachelor 
days,  though  in  November  1810  Lamb  wrote  in  a  letter  to 
Hazlitt  :  '  One  or  two  things  have  happened  .  .  .  which 
.  .  .  gesture  and  emphasis  might  have  talked  into  some 
importance.  Something  about  Rickman's  wife  for  in- 
stance :  how  tall  she  is  and  that  she  visits  prank'd  out  like 
a  Queen  of  the  May  with  green  streamers — a  good-natured 
woman  though,  which  is  as  much  as  you  can  expect  from 
a  friend's  wife,  whom  you  got  acquainted  with  as  a  bachelor.' 
Here  lies  the  germ  of  Elia's  essay,  '  A  Bachelor's  Complaint.' 
But  both  Lamb  and  Southey  seem  to  have  got  on  very  well 
with  Mrs.  Rickman  ;  they  were  ready  to  entertain  her,  and 
to  be  entertained  by  her,  as  they  were,  with  unfailing  kind- 
ness. Southey  always  sent  some  courtly  message  to  her 
in  his  letters,  and  was  glad  to  allow  his  daughter  Bertha  to 
stay  more  than  once  with  the  Rickmans. 

It  is  evident  that  Rickman  was  sincerely  attached  to  his 
children,  but  he  was  a  formal  and  severe  parent.  Some 
light  is  thrown  upon  this  side  of  his  character  by  the  MS. 
reminiscences  of  his  daughter  Ann  (Mrs.  Lefroy).  A  '  black 
rattan  '  was  always  hanging  by  the  side  of  the  drawing- 
room  chimney,  and  at  least  one  occasion  is  recorded  of  its 
use.  But  what  is  more  remarkable  in  Rickman's  family 
relations  is  their  old-fashioned  punctilio.  He  almost  always 
referred  to  his  daughters  as  '  Miss  A.'  and  '  Miss  Fr.,'  and 
to  his  son  as  W.  C.  R.,  even  in  family  letters.  He  was 
anxious  for  them  to  acquire  knowledge,  which  he  looked  on 


120   LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

as  supremely  useful  for  its  own  sake,  and  Mrs.  Lefroy  records 
the  fact  that  they  were  accustomed  to  ask  for  their  dessert 
in  Latin.  At  the  same  time,  to  use  her  own  words,  '  Papa 
looked  down  on  any  routine  of  teaching  and  discipline,  "  no 
one  should  be  pressed  to  learn — there  were  plenty  of  books 
(folios)  in  the  shelves  for  Miss  Ann  to  read  if  she  cared  to 
do  so."  In  truth  I  did  not  care,  and  I  am  very  sorry  that 
I  had  no  stiff  training.  I  generally  was  occupied,  seated 
"  square  "  before  a  sheet  of  "  Pot  paper,"  copying  out  some 
official  paper,  circular  or  otherwise,  or  drawing  papers  from 
beneath  Papa's  hand,  just  so  exactly  that  he  could  go  on 
signing  paper  after  paper  without  any  pause,  to  the  number 
of  500  perhaps.'  Rickman  was  no  slave-driver  in  education, 
but  the  following  letter  will  show  his  views  and  his  character 
better  than  anything  I  can  say.  It  is  a  letter  which  Jane 
Austen  would  have  treasured.  Poor  sixteen-year-old  Ann  ! 
It  must  have  caused  her  bitter  tears,  but  she  preserved  it 
nevertheless.     Its  date  is  1823. 

'  My  dear  Child, — I  write  to  you,  lest  from  what  passed 
yesterday  morning  you  should  feel  yourself  precluded  from 
dancing  at  Mr.  Williamson's  tomorrow  evening  ;  for  al- 
though it  is  necessary  in  common  civility  that  those  who 
dance  in  domestic  parties  should  enable  themselves  to  play 
to  others,  yet  I  do  not  wish  your  defect,  and  my  opinion 
of  it,  to  become  very  public.  Dance  therefore  Tuesday 
evening,  and  afterwards  practice  quadrille  musick  till  you 
have  mastered  it.  You  are  not  aware  (I  daresay)  that  you 
expressed  your  own  general  defect  in  every  thing,  when  you 
alledged  as  an  excuse  for  not  being  able  to  play,  "  that  it 
was  very  difficult  to  do  so."  And  pray,  what  part  of  know- 
ledge, or  what  acquirement,  is  meritorious,  unless  it  is 
difficult  ?  Because  even  that  kind  of  knowledge  which  can 
be  derived  from  books,  and  even  from  conversation,  is 
difficult  and  even  impracticable  to  those  who  cannot  give 
their  fixed  attention  to  any  useful  information  which  is 
open  to  them.  Much  less  of  course  can  they  hope  to  attain 
that  dry  kind  of  knowledge  which  is  only  such  as  being 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    121 

introductory  to  larger  sources  of  knowledge  :  I  speak  of  the 
rudiments  and  phraseology  of  languages,  which  cannot  be 
acquired  without  willingness  and  determination  of  mind 
in  the  learner,  after  the  tender  age  in  which  authority  and 
compulsion  can  be  exercised  is  passed  away,  as  in  your  case. 

'  You  will  err,  if  you  suppose  what  I  have  said  to  be  a 
preface  to  any  endeavour  to  force  you  for  your  good  to  be 
attentive  to  your  Latin,  or  to  any  other  useful  study  ; 
quite  the  contrary  ;  because  I  believe  that  your  backward- 
ness and  inattention  is  caused  by  your  reliance  on  me,  that 
I  shall  be  able  to  make  you  learn  without  any  labour  of 
your  own.  But  I  beg  to  decline  the  task  of  feeding  a  per- 
son who  has  no  appetite,  and  for  the  future  it  will  rest 
entirely  with  yourself,  whether  you  chuse  to  remain  among 
the  vulgar  and  the  ignorant,  or  to  acquire  laboriously  the 
degree  of  knowledge  which  becomes  your  station  in  life 
and  your  relationship  to  me,  whom  you  very  well  know  to 
have  benefited  largely  by  cultivating  the  talent  which  you 
seem  to  undervalue. 

'  Considering  that  no  expence  is  spared  for  your  grati- 
fication, no  opportunity  of  giving  you  pleasure  preter- 
mitted, I  am  not  sure  whether  morally  speaking  you  have 
any  right  to  remain  in  ignorance  contrary  to  the  wishes  of 
those  who  shew  you  so  much  favour  ;  but  I  do  not  insist 
on  this,  and  leave  you  to  your  own  reflections,  and  your 
own  resources,  always  willing  to  instruct  you  whenever 
you  shall  bend  your  mind  on  improvement,  but  not  willing 
to  accompany  you  as  now  stationed  for  about  three  years 
upon  what  is  called  Pons  Asinorum,  that  is,  the  difficult  and 
disagreeable  part  of  study  which  is  introductory,  and  where 
by  relying  on  me  instead  of  yourself,  you  seem  in  a  fair  way 
to  remain  always,  forgetting  exactly  as  much  as  you  learn 
for  want  of  attention  and  strenuous  effort.  Remember 
that  in  future  you  rely  on  yourself  ;  I  cannot  afford  in  my 
hours  of  relaxation  to  be  distressed  by  seeing  and  knowing 
that  115-  of  your  gaiety  and  happiness  is  obscured  by  a  con- 
sciousness of  not  having  done  what  is  required  of  you  for 
your  own  benefit.     Knowledge  I  have  found  to  be  a  good 


122    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

thing  in  itself  ;  and  the  increasing  fashion  of  education 
places  all  young  persons  virtually  in  one  vast  school,  where 
all  other  rank  is  superseded  by  acquirements  which  thus 
become  necessary  not  only  to  him  that  would  rise,  but  to 
him  who  is  unwilling  to  sink  from  the  station  in  which 
Providence  has  placed  him.  Radix  Dodrinae  acerba, 
fructus  dulcis. 

'  I  should  here  finish  this  letter,  but  for  one  thing  which 
will  very  soon  be  of  importance  in  our  domestic  life.  I  am 
not  without  intentions  of  a  large  investigation  in  etymo- 
logies, if  I  am  destined  to  a  long  life  ;  and  it  would  have 
been  in  progress  before  now  with  your  assistance,  had  you 
not  so  unexpectedly  failed  in  acquiring  this  preliminary 
knowledge  necessary  to  make  you  useful  as  a  scribe  and 
assistant  in  that  purpose.  But  there  is  another  young  lady 
(Miss  Fr.  Rickman)  of  whom  I  ought  not  [to]  despair  without 
fair  trial ;  and  though  I  give  you  permission  to  be  as  ignor- 
ant as  you  please,  you  will  not  I  am  sure  expect  that  in 
compliment  to  your  choice  of  that  negative  quality,  I  am 
to  abstain  from  cultivating  her  taste  for  reading,  and  I 
hope  for  knowledge.  I  mean  by  this  that  you  ought  to 
prepare  yourself  for  the  possible  event  of  her  surpassing 
you  in  what  you  do  not  seem  to  value,  and  that  it  will  be 
very  unreasonable  hereafter  for  you  ever  to  interrupt  her 
in  her  future  studies  ;  and  still  worse  to  suffer  any  sinister 
feelings  to  intrude  into  your  mind,  if  by  chance  I  should 
succeed  with  her  better  than  I  have  with  you.  I  shall  not 
insist  further  upon  this  point,  because  all  the  consequences 
will  be  quite  as  obvious  to  your  mind  upon  consideration  as 
to  me.  Guard  yourself  and  prepare  yourself  accordingly. 
I  shall  attempt  Frances  the  sooner  perhaps  from  having 
thus  committed  you  to  your  own  care,  as  to  all  matters  of 
study  :   in  which  however  I  hope  you  will  yet  do  well. 

'  I  write  no  further,  nor  desire  any  answer  to  this,  which, 
as  all  other  letters  which  you  receive  or  write,  you  are 
to  communicate  to  your  Mama,  and  on  other  occasions  not 
to  forget  to  show  her  due  deference.  Farewell,  my  dear 
child. — Your  affec.  father,  J.  R.' 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    123 

It  is  to  be  feared  that  Frances  equally  failed  to  become 
the  desired  amanuensis.  Rickman's  hobby  for  etymology 
never  resulted  in  any  published  work,  and  his  loose  papers 
have  now  been  lost.  The  second  daughter  came  in  for  her 
share  of  fatherly  admonition  after  her  marriage,  when  she 
and  her  husband  wished  to  enlarge  their  vicarage,  as  he 
thought,  imprudently.  The  long  account  of  his  own  life 
and  finances — from  which  quotation  has  already  been  made, 
and  will  be  made  again  x — was  written  solely  to  dissuade 
her  from  a  course  of  action  which,  as  it  appears  from  a 
second  letter,  turned  out  exactly  as  he  foretold.  An  in- 
ferior architect  was  employed  who  both  did  the  work  badly 
and  exceeded  the  estimate.  Rickman  generously  put  his 
hand  in  his  pocket,  but  treated  his  daughter  to  some  very 
salutary  advice,  and  sketched  out  a  budget  to  which  he 
desired  that  she  and  her  husband  should  adhere  to  make 
good  the  losses.  It  is  plain  that  the  Rickman  of  the  fireside 
was  the  same  man  that  Lamb  and  Southey  knew — exceed- 
ingly generous,  unsparing  of  his  own  time  in  helping,  im- 
proving, or  teaching  others,  but  impatient  of  carelessness 
and  weakness,  judging  the  capacities  of  all  by  the  standard 
of  his  own  strong  self. 

The  Rickmans  lived  in  the  precincts  of  the  Palace  of 
Westminster  till  after  the  fire  of  1834.  People  of  to-day, 
who  are  accustomed  to  the  uniform  Gothic  building  designed 
by  Barry,  have  little  idea  how  different  Westminster  Palace 
looked  less  than  a  hundred  years  ago.  Westminster  Hall 
is  the  one  visible  relic  (from  the  outside)  of  the  past. 
The  rest  of  the  buildings,  including  the  beautiful  old  St. 
Stephen's  Chapel,  were  a  collection  of  different  styles  and 
periods.  Where  gazers  from  excursion  steamers  now  see 
the  Terrace,  there  were  then  only  roofs  of  different  heights, 
many  back  windows,  the  east  end  of  St.  Stephen's,  and  a 
garden  or  two  to  be  seen.  New  Palace  Yard  was  not  the 
railed-in  space,  jealously  guarded  by  policemen,  that  it  now 
is.  In  front  of  Westminster  Hall  was  a  wide  expanse 
paved  with  cobble-stones  ;    on  each  side  of  it  there  were 

1  See  pp.  20,  21,  24,  77,  125,  127. 


124    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

quite  low  houses,  some  of  red  brick,  some  of  stone.  On  the 
eastern  wing  of  the  Yard,  now  occupied  by  officials'  houses 
and  terminated  by  the  Clock  Tower,  there  was  only  a  portion 
of  the  old  Exchequer  Buildings,  which  included  the  famous 
Star  Chamber,  at  the  northern  end  of  which  was  a  water- 
gate  (I  must  mention — for  it  is  perhaps  only  fully  realised 
at  sunrise  after  an  all-night  sitting — that  the  river  at  West- 
minster runs  north  and  south).  From  1802,  till  he  became 
first  Clerk  Assistant  in  1821,  Rickman  lived  in  the  official 
house  of  the  Speaker's  Secretary,  next  to  the  Speaker's 
house,  which  stood  opposite  the  east  side  of  Westminster 
Hall,  farther  south  than  the  present  Speaker's  house.  '  Our 
house,'  says  Mrs.  Lefroy,  '  was  in  a  small  court,  entered  by 
two  archways  ;  the  "  Speaker's  Archway  "  we  called  one, 
which  looked  rather  new  and  well  stuccoed,  and  the  Speaker's 
carriage  always  drove  in  and  out  of  that,  and  in  doing  so, 
passed  under  a  buttress  which  belonged  to  the  east  side 
of  Westminster  Hall.  Our  front  door  was  in  an  old  stone 
wall  opposite  to  the  Westminster  Hall  wall  with  a  small 
bricked  up  old  Gothic  arch  in  it ;  we  were  close  to  the  other 
archway  entrance  to  the  court ;  this  was  very  old  and  shabby 
without  any  architectural  merits,  and  dark  to  pass  through, 
60  or  70  feet  in  length.  Close  to  our  door,  and  closer  to  this 
arch,  was  a  narrow  door  and  passage  which  led  into  a 
garden  in  which  were  laburnum  trees  and  a  lawn  :  this  was 
Mr.  Wilde's  garden.  The  passage  passed  under  some 
official  rooms  of  the  Exchequer,  an  old  wooden  building 
of  Queen  Elizabeth's  time,  standing  on  wooden  legs.  Mr. 
Wilde  held  the  office  of  Keeper  of  the  Exchequer  .  .  .  [his 
house]  stood  so  close  to  the  river  Thames  that  at  spring 
tide  there  was  great  pleasure  to  us  children  in  dipping 
our  fingers  down  into  the  water  from  the  sitting  room 
windows.  .  .  . 

'  How  much  better  our  house  was  than  Mr.  Wilde's 
because  it  was  at  the  beginning  of  the  garden,  so  we  had 
a  bright,  pleasant  piece  of  ground,  with  a  terrace  and  rails 
to  the  river,  and  the  roses  and  other  flowers  grew  luxuriantly, 
and  against  the  end  of  Mr.  Wilde's  house  on  the  terrace  there 


...  <  ■§■ 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    125 

was  a  Hamboro'  grape  ;  and  we  had  gooseberries  too  and 
a  Morella  cherry  besides  a  very  pretty  Bird  cherry  tree  .  .  . 
and  there  was  a  corner  and  a  mound  to  bury  the  kittens 
and  canaries  in,  and  a  place  where  we  all  dug.  ...  It  was 
a  very  smooth  lawn,  and  in  the  centre  a  round  border,  with 
some  shrubs  and  a  hedge  of  white  jasmine.  .  .  .  Papa  very 
often  in  warm  weather  stretched  himself  down  on  the 
slope  of  turf  that  formed  the  terrace,  in  the  centre  of  which 
were  four  stone  steps  :  he  generally  went  to  sleep,  and  we 
made  daisy  chains  to  dress  him  up,  and  looked  at  his  pig- 
tail, but  we  never  quite  made  up  our  minds  to  pull  it.' 

An  idyllic  pleasaunce  indeed,  which  the  officials  of  to-day 
may  well  envy.  Rickman,  in  his  own  account  written  to  his 
daughter,  gives  some  details  of  the  interior.  The  living- 
rooms  were  on  the  first  floor.  The  best  of  these  had  three 
windows  looking  on  the  river,  and  was  called  the  '  sitting- 
room  '  :  here  the  family  lived  entirely  when  alone.  The 
other  room  was  called  the  '  book-room,'  though  it  was  used 
as  a  dining-room  when  guests  were  present,  and  was  prob- 
ably the  one  consecrated  to  Southey's  use.  The  terms 
'  drawing-room  '  and  '  dining-room  '  were  purposely  avoided, 
lest  they  should  lead  to  a  style  of  living  incommensurate 
with  income. 

When  Rickman  became  first  Clerk  Assistant  he  moved 
into  a  red-brick  house  in  New  Palace  Yard,  which  occupied 
the  whole  space  between  the  two  archways  to  the  Speaker's 
Court,  the  site  of  the  present  members'  entrance.  I  repro- 
duce a  water-colour  sketch  made  by  Mrs.  Lefroy  in  1831. 
The  front  door  was  in  a  corner  facing  west,  and  on  the  right 
stood  the  old  Star  Chamber.  There  was  an  old  watchman 
there,  and  also  a  Speaker's  watchman,  according  to 
Mrs.  Lefroy,  who  carried  a  lantern  and  wore  a  heavily 
caped  coat.  He  called  out  :  '  Twelve  o'clock  and  a  cloudy 
night '  in  the  traditional  style,  for  in  those  days  there  was 
only  a  little  oil  lamp,  trimmed  daily  by  the  lamp-lighter. 
Opposite  this  house  stood  the  '  King's  Arms,'  the  hotel 
where  the  "Westminster  Committee  held  their  turbulent 
meetings  for  Sir  Francis  Rurdett. 


126    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

Life  at  Westminster  was  not  dull  in  those  days.  When 
Parliament  was  sitting  Palace  Yard  was  full  of  bustle  with 
members  arriving  in  their  carriages.  The  Westminster 
elections  were  a  continuous  riot,  and  there  were  several 
special  occasions  which  Mrs.  Lefroy  records.  She  saw 
Queen  Caroline  driving  every  day  to  her  trial,  and  the 
coronation  of  George  iv.,  which  was  celebrated  with  un- 
exampled splendour.  The  special  stable  for  the  Champion's 
horse  was  in  front  of  Rickman's  house,  and  it  was  near  by 
that  the  Queen  alighted  when  she  tried  to  force  her  presence 
upon  the  King.  '  From  above,'  says  Mrs.  Lefroy,  '  we  could 
plainly  see  her  and  hear  her  say  aloud  "  Show  me  to  my 
husband,"  whereupon  the  large  porter  in  scarlet  slammed 
the  door  and  locked  it — a  terrible  moment  for  everybody.' 
The  new  Lord  Mayor  brought  by  water  in  his  gold  barge,  and 
the  King's  Birthday  procession,  were  annual  sights.  Other 
excitements  were  the  Panorama,  Miss  Linwood's  exhibition 
of  needlework,  a  voyage  by  water  to  the  Royal  Academy 
at  Somerset  House,  Braham  singing  and  fireworks  at  Vaux- 
hall,  and  'Astley's'  across  the  river.  I  cannot  resist  closing 
this  paragraph  with  Mrs.  Lefroy 's  account  of  the  official 
church  parade  in  those  days.  First  '  the  Speaker  and  his 
wife,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Abbott,  [in]  her  bright  emerald  silk 
pelisse  trimmed  with  deep  ermine,  a  muff  as  large  as  a 
pillow  with  deep  cuffs  and  a  long  tippet  en  suite.  The  foot- 
man behind  her  with  her  prayer-book  ;  Mr.  Abbott  with 
pig- tail  and  broad-brimmed  hat,  a  black  swallow-tail  coat, 
tight  grey  pantaloons  and  Hessian  boots  rather  short  with 
a  tassel  in  front.  Our  Father  had  much  the  same  dress,  but 
his  boots  varied,  and  sometimes  had  a  straight  rim  and  no 
tassel,  but  there  was  a  pig-tail.  Mamma  had  sable  en 
suite,  her  pelisse  was  "  Waterloo  blue  "  silk.  .  .  .  Then  came 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Dyson  [the  deputy-Clerk  and  his  wife]  .  .  . 
he  in  country  gentleman  costume,  the  pig-tail,  white  stock- 
ings with  short  nankeen  gaiters,  and  the  short  knee  breeches 
of  light  drab  or  nankeen,  a  striped  linen  waistcoat,  white 
cravat,  and  a  coat  of  snuff  brown  cloth.  .  .  .  Then  Mr. 
and  Mrs.  Wilde,  she  in  black  and  black  lace  ...  he  with 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    127 

black  silk  stockings  and  shorts  buckled  to  his  knees,  high 
shoes  tied  in  good  bows  by  his  daughter,  a  large  silver  headed 
stick,  .  .  .  and  a  very  important  pig-tail  under  his  large 
hat.' 

Though  he  was  fond  of  society,  Rickman  purposely 
avoided  dinner-party  intercourse,  as  he  called  it,  from 
considerations  of  economy.  As  he  told  his  daughter,  he 
'  attained  to  this  needful  economy  by  an  oval  dinner  table 
made  for  six,  but  capable  of  holding  eight  persons  well 
packed,  and  two  dishes  of  meat  and  fish,  two  of  vegetables.' 
When  he  became  Clerk  Assistant  he  invested  in  a  table 
which  would  accommodate  ten.  He  was  conservative  in 
his  tastes.  As  he  remained  faithful  to  the  old-fashioned 
stock  and  knee-breeches,  so  he  adhered  to  four  o'clock  as 
the  hour  for  dinner.  Late  dinners  found  no  favour  in  his 
sight,  as  we  may  gather  from  a  characteristic  passage  : — 

'  It  has  occurred  luckily  I  think  in  modern  society  that 
a  late  dinner  hour  infers  luncheon  which  you  bestow  on 
morning  visitors,  and  which  renders  dinner  company  really 
injurious  to  rational  intercourse  ;  which  is  much  better 
attained  by  your  friends  having  really  dined  with  or  without 
their  children  at  two  o'clock,  and  visiting  you  at  tea-time, 
their  stomachs  in  a  much  better  state  than  when  distended 
with  a  second  feed  and  half  a  dozen  unnecessary  glasses  of 
wine,  which  separate  the  sexes  very  ridiculously  during  the 
best  hours  of  the  evening.' 

But  Rickman  was  by  no  means  a  hermit,  and  Mrs.  Lefroy 
has  preserved  many  memories  of  his  friends.  There  was 
Captain  Burney,1  whom  we  have  met  already,  with  his  wife 
and  daughter,  and  his  friend  Colonel  Phillips,  who  was 
with  Captain  Cook  when  he  was  murdered  at  Otaheite. 
Captain  Burney  was  an  '  odd  fish,'  who  kept  his  daughter's 
wardrobe  very  limited,  and  Colonel  Phillips  always  had  a 
'  schism  between  his  waistcoat  and  his  trousers.'  Madame 
d'Arblay  was  also  a  friend  of  the  Rickmans,  and  the  second 

1  He  accompanied  Cook  on  his  second  and  third  voyages,  and  after- 
wards wrote  A  Chronological  Account  of  the  Discoveries  in  the  South  Seas. 


128    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

daughter  was  christened  after  her.  The  Burneys  were  a 
very  musical  family,  and  Mrs.  Lefroy  records  a  meeting 
at  her  father's  house  of  a  string  quartet.  It  is  a  pity  that 
we  have  no  record  of  Rickman's  views  on  such  music.  We 
may  imagine  that  his  '  cosmopolite  '  scorn,  which  made  him 
regard  poetry  as  a  '  toy  in  manhood,'  would  have  found  still 
more  contemptuous  phrases  for  an  art  that  has  so  little 
semblance  of  utility,  in  Bentham's  sense  of  the  word. 
Another  pair  of  musical  friends  were  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Ayrton. 
Ayrton  was  Lamb's  '  my  friend  A —  '  in  the  essay  '  A  Chapter 
on  Ears  '  :  Mrs.  Lefroy  says  he  was  '  rather  a  fine  gentle- 
man, and  a  joke  with  the  set  in  rusty  waistcoats,'  among 
whom  she  instances  Charles  and  Mary  Lamb.  They  '  often 
came  upon  the  scene,  he  so  very  thin  and  black,  thread  lace 
stock  quite  as  "  Elia  "  should  be,  rather  the  air  of  a  dissent- 
ing preacher,  underhung,  and  making  a  pun  in  a  low  voice 
in  a  distant  corner  of  the  room,  where  he  generally  seated 
himself.  His  good  sister  Mary  Lamb,  a  stout,  roundabout 
little  body,  with  a  turban,  and  a  layer  of  snuff  on  her  upper 
lip.  She  was  so  good-natured  and  had  a  gruff  kind  of 
voice.' 

Lamb's  famous  Wednesday  evenings  began  in  1806,  and 
at  them  Rickman  was  a  regular  guest,  he  and  Captain 
Burney  being  two  of  the  players  in  the  game  of  whist  which 
always  began  the  evening,  before  the  punch  came  in  and 
tongues  were  loosened.  It  is  evident  Rickman  was  one 
of  the  more  serious  set  of  Lamb's  friends,  whose  influence 
opposed  that  of  the  more  dissolute  Fell,  Fenwick,  and  others, 
who  encouraged  Elia's  taste  for  alcohol  and  wild  extrava- 
gances. '  There  was  R.,'  said  Leigh  Hunt  in  the  Examiner, 
'to  represent  among  us  the  plumpness  of  office  and  the 
solidity  of  government  '  ;  and  Talfourd  in  his  Final 
Memorials  called  him  '  the  sturdiest  of  jovial  companions, 
severe  in  the  discipline  of  whist  as  at  the  Table  of  the  House 
of  Commons.'  He  was  noted  for  his  taste  for  argument, 
so  much  that,  writing  to  Sarah  Hazlitt  in  1810  of  Hazlitt's 
absence,  Mary  Lamb  said  :  '  Rickman  argues  and  there 
is  none  to  oppose  him.'     Hazlitt,  speaking  of  these  evenings 


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LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      129 

in  his  essay  '  On  the  Conversation  of  Authors, '  gives  a  good 
description  of  Rickman's  conversational  propensities. 

'  There  was  Rickman,  who  asserted  some  incredible 
matter-of-fact  as  a  likely  paradox,  and  settled  all  contro- 
versies by  an  ipse  dixit,  a  fiat  of  his  will,  hammering  out 
many  a  hard  theory  on  the  anvil  of  his  brain — the  Baron 
Munchausen  of  politics  and  practical  philosophy.' 

Crabb  Robinson,1  who  does  not  seem  to  have  known 
Rickman  intimately,  often  mentions  his  presence  at  Lamb's, 
and  records  an  after-dinner  visit  to  his  house  at  West- 
minster in  1813  with  Lamb  and  Burney.  It  was  there 
that  Lamb  made  his  famous  pun  on  Chatterton's  Rowley 
poems.  Rickman  showed  a  manuscript  in  which  there 
were  seventeen  kinds  of  e's  all  written  differently.  '  Oh,' 
said  Lamb,  '  that  must  have  been  modern — written  by 
one  of  "  the  mob  of  gentlemen  who  write  with  ease."  ' 

After  1814  Rickman's  duties  at  the  House  must  have 
kept  him  away  from  Lamb's  whist-table,  and  I  suspect 
that  he  found  Lamb  an  uncomfortable  guest  to  entertain 
at  Westminster.  Nevertheless,  the  friendship  did  not  die 
out,  though  it  was  a  little  tried  when  Rickman  found  it 
necessary  to  dismiss  first  Tom  Holcroft — son  of  Lamb's 
friend  the  dramatist — and  then  Martin  Burney  from  clerk- 
ships he  had  given  them.  Crabb  Robinson  records  both 
these  incidents,  and  how  upset  the  Lambs  were.  On  the 
latter  occasion  Mary  Lamb  went  to  plead  in  person,  and 
told  Robinson  that  both  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Rickman  had  given 
her  a  most  kind  reception,  and  that  Rickman  had  walked 
with  her  as  far  as  Bishopsgate  Street.  Martin  Burney  was 
not  reinstated,  but  Lamb's  Latin  letter  to  Rickman  in  18282 
about  Burney 's  prospects  in  the  profession  of  law  shows 
that  no  rancour  remained ;  and  in  a  letter  of  the  following 
year   Rickman   tells   Southey  that  Lamb  is  staying  with 

1  In  his  Diary,  a  selection  from  which  is  published. 

2  Printed  in  Canon  Ainger's  last  edition  of  Lamb's  Letters,  and  trans- 
lated by  Mr.  E.  V.  Lucas  for  his  own  edition. 

I 


130      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  HICKMAN 

him  during  Mary  Lamb's  convalescence  from  one  of  her 
periodical  attacks. 

Rickman  was  not  one  who  found  it  necessary  to  divert 
his  ever  active  brain  "with  such  harmless  amusements  as 
sport  or  theatre-going.  Many  of  the  hours  which  were 
free  from  professional  work  were  devoted  to  the  considera- 
tion of  certain  subjects  which  were  his  hobbies.  Chief 
among  these  were  etymology  and  architecture.  His  re- 
searches upon  these  subjects  were  sometimes  printed  for 
private  circulation.  Most  of  his  pamphlets  and  papers 
are  lost,  but  there  is  a  thin  little  volume,  a  copy  of  which 
is  in  the  British  Museum,  entitled  Historical  Curiosities 
relating  to  St.  Margaret's  Church,  Westminster,  which  is  a 
description  of  the  windows,  the  beadle's  staff,  and  the  bas- 
relief  over  the  altar.  It  was  printed  at  the  private  press 
of  an  invalid  friend  of  the  family.  Out  of  doors,  as  well 
as  indoors,  Rickman  made  his  recreation  serve  a  practical 
purpose.  During  the  Parliamentary  recesses,  particularly 
in  the  summer,  he  used  to  make  long  tours  in  order  to  see 
places  of  interest,  and  the  journeys  were  always  minutely 
recorded  in  letters  home  which  have  been  preserved.  Un- 
fortunately, the  extreme  dryness  of  Rickman's  epistolary 
style  to  his  family  makes  these  letters  unsuitable  for  quota- 
tion. His  tour  in  the  Netherlands  with  Southey  and  Henry 
Taylor  (the  author  of  Philip  van  Artevelde)  was  the  subject 
of  a  very  long  letter  to  Lord  Colchester — the  former  Speaker 
Abbot — which  has  the  same  literary  defect.  But  the 
holidays  which  Rickman  most  enjoyed  were  spent  in  driving 
tours  about  England.  The  first  of  these  took  place  in 
1814,  when,  foreseeing  his  elevation  to  the  Table  of  the 
House,  he  bought  a  horse-chaise  and  one  horse,  and  drove 
all  over  the  north  of  England,  seeing  the  cathedrals  and 
other  sights  of  interest,  with  a  visit  to  Southey  at  Keswick 
by  the  way.  Little  Ann,  who  was  then  six  years  old, 
accompanied  her  mother  and  father  on  this  tour,  and  she 
was  able  in  later  years  to  give  some  account  of  it.  The 
gig,  she  says,  '  was  a  comfortable  large  yellow  affair  on 
two  wheels,  with  hood  to  move  up  and  down,  and  a  pro- 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  HICKMAN      131 

jection  behind  called  "  the  sword  case  "  ;  in  this  I  made 
many  long  journeys  with  papa  and  mama,  seated  between 
them  on  a  high  mahogany  box,  with  stuffed  green  baize 
on  the  top.  ...  I  think  we  went  about  24  miles  a  day, 
resting  always  on  Sunday.  .  .  .  Behind  our  feet  was  a 
small  long  narrow  box  which  held  the  shoes,  the  seat  box 
on  which  papa  sat  held  his  toilette,  my  little  baize  box 
hid  our  Sunday  bonnets,  and  the  box  under  the  seat  took 
all  the  rest.  ...  I  believe  when  I  was  eight  years  old 
I  had  seen  every  cathedral  in  England  and  Wales.  .  .  . 
There  were  no  railways  then,  the  good  old  days  of  fine 
turnpike  roads  and  fine  inns,  with  old-fashioned  landlords, 
great  civility — almost  friendship — shown,  and  the  waiter 
relating  the  sights  of  the  town,  as  he  brought  in  the  dinner, 
with  perhaps  the  special  fish  of  the  river.'  The  chaise 
was  soon  succeeded  by  a  four-wheeled  gig  which  held  all 
the  family,  and  when  Rickman  succeeded  to  the  Clerk 
Assistant's  post,  he  bought  two  horses.  With  these  the 
children  used  to  come  up  and  down  from  Epsom,  where 
Rickman  rented  a  villa.  In  1830  he  made  a  special  tour 
to  the  antiquities  round  Salisbury,  Silchester,  Stonehenge, 
arid  Abury,  an  account  of  which  he  communicated  to  the 
Society  of  Antiquaries.  Also,  he  made  more  than  one 
tour  in  Scotland  in  company  with  Telford,  the  famous 
engineer,  whose  acquaintance  he  gained  through  his  secre- 
taryship to  the  Commissions  for  the  Caledonian  Canal  and 
Highland  Roads.  Telford  and  Rickman  became  fast  friends, 
and  worked  in  complete  unanimity,  Telford  doing  the  con- 
structive, Rickman  the  business  and  diplomatic,  parts  of 
the  great  work.  When  Telford  died  in  1834  Rickman 
edited  his  autobiography,  supplying  notes,  a  preface,  and 
a  supplementary  account  of  his  personality.  It  is  interest- 
ing to  notice  that  Rickman  ascribed  Telford's  early  demo- 
cratic views  to  the  influence  of  the  republican  tendencies 
in  the  Greek  and  Latin  classics  which  that  remarkable 
man  found  time  to  read  while  he  was  only  a  hard-working 
young  mason.  It  is  doubtful  whether  the  liberal  bias  of 
the  great  writers  of  antiquity  would  nowadays  seem  a 


132      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  HICKMAN 

sufficient  argument  for  the  retention  of  compulsory  Greek 
in  the  eyes  of  modern  reformers. 

Having  spoken  of  his  diversions,  I  must  give  some 
account  of  Hickman's  work  at  Westminster.  As  Speaker's 
Secretary  his  duty  was  to  attend  the  Speaker  on  all  official 
occasions  in  '  bag  and  sword,'  to  answer  letters,  and  assist 
the  Speaker  in  searching  for  precedents  or  answers  to  other 
special  questions.  The  work  was  tiresome  rather  than 
arduous,  and  we  have  seen  that  Hickman  often  found  it 
very  distasteful.  But  few  who  have  begun  an  official 
career  ever  give  it  up,  and  Rickman  was  no  exception. 
His  average  salary,  produced  by  fees,  was  about  £300  a 
year  when  he  entered  upon  his  duties,  with  the  expectation 
of  another  £1000  or  £1200  in  any  year  of  election  petitions 
on  the  sitting  of  a  new  Parliament.  Rickman  was  for- 
tunate in  seeing  four  years  of  election  petitions,  out  of 
which  he  made  £3800.  In  1801  Telford  made  a  survey 
of  the  Highlands,  and  the  result  of  his  report  was  the 
appointment  of  the  two  Commissions,  which  I  have  already 
mentioned,  for  constructing  the  Caledonian  Canal  and  for 
building  roads  and  bridges  in  the  Highlands.  From  these 
joint  secretaryships,  which  he  held  till  1829,  Rickman  earned 
another  £400  a  year.  From  1825  to  1831  he  was  secretary, 
at  £100  a  year,  to  another  Commission  for  building  churches 
in  the  Highlands  and  Islands  of  Scotland.  These  secre- 
tarial posts  were  no  sinecures.  A  considerable  amount  of 
opposition  had  to  be  encountered,  and  there  was  a  great 
deal  of  correspondence  and  balancing  of  accounts,  while 
the  production  of  the  annual  report  often  cut  Rickman 's 
hours  of  sleep  down  to  three  hours  a  night  for  a  week 
or  more.  Telford  testifies  to  his  unfailing  zeal  and  per- 
severance ;  and  it  is  indeed  fortunate  for  Scotland  that 
these  two  men  continued  together  for  so  many  years. 
It  was  in  no  spirit  of  self-laudation  that  Rickman  told 
Southey  that  the  death  of  either  Telford  or  himself  would 
have  been  most  disastrous,  especially  for  the  Caledonian 
Canal. 

When    Rickman    became    second    Clerk    Assistant,    the 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      133 

salary  of  that  post  was  £1500,  and  the  salary  of  Clerk 
Assistant,  to  which  he  succeeded  in  1820,  was  £2500. 
The  character  of  his  work  changed  entirely  upon  his 
translation.  The  duty  of  the  Clerks  at  the  Table  was 
very  much  the  same  then  as  it  is  now.  They  are  bound  to 
be  in  their  places  whenever  the  House  is  sitting — except 
that  the  Chief  Clerk  is  absent  when  the  House  is  in 
Committee — and  they  keep  a  record  of  the  actual  business 
done,  which  serves  as  a  basis  for  the  Votes  and  Proceedings 
and  for  the  Journal  which  are  compiled  by  the  clerks  in 
the  Journal  Office.  They  are  also  the  chief  authorities  upon 
procedure,  and  are  continually  consulted  by  members 
throughout  a  sitting.  During  a  session  of  Parliament  the 
hours  of  duty  are  in  general  long  and  wearisome,  especially 
when  all-night  sittings  are  frequent,  and  the  ventilation 
of  the  old  House  must  have  been  considerably  worse  than 
that  of  the  present  one,  which  is  by  no  means  ideal. 
But  besides  this  ordinary  official  work,  which,  it  must  be 
remembered,  was  combined  with  constant  and,  at  times, 
overwhelming  work  upon  the  population  returns  and  for 
the  two  Commissions,  Rickman  found  time  to  do  other 
signal  services  for  the  House  of  Commons.  In  1817  he  was 
very  largely  responsible  for  the  introduction  of  a  new  and 
more  expeditious  method  of  printing  the  Votes  and  Proceed- 
ings. Before  that  year  the  Votes — which  record  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  House  in  a  less  elaborate  form  than  the 
Journal — were  not  published  till  three  or  four  days  after 
the  transaction  of  the  business  which  they  recorded. 
Rickman  drew  up  a  memorandum  which  explained  the 
advantages  of  an  improvement,  which  was  chiefly  to  be 
made  by  shortening  entries  and  omitting  unnecessary 
items.  His  scheme  was  approved  by  a  committee,  and  the 
form  which  is  used  to-day  is  practically  the  same  as  that 
then  introduced,  its  advantage  being  that  the  Votes  can  be 
published  soon  enough  to  reach  members  early  the  next 
morning.  The  change  was  not  made  without  considerable 
labour  on  the  part  of  the  three  Clerks  at  the  Table,  and  it 
was  necessary  for  Rickman  to  remain  in  the  office  for  two 


134      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

or  three  hours  after  the  adjournment  of  the  House,  till 
things  ran  smoothly.  In  1818  he  indexed  the  Statutes, 
having  made  a  new  index  to  Hatsell's  Precedents  and 
Proceedings  the  year  before,  and  in  1825  he  busied  himself 
over  the  indexing  of  the  Journals.  In  1829  he  produced  a 
catalogue  of  the  House  of  Commons  Library.  From  1816 
to  1839  he  was  occupied  annually  with  making  various 
returns  of  local  taxation,  which  were  of  the  highest  use  for 
the  first  Poor  Law  Act  of  the  reformed  Parliament.  Not 
content  with  all  these  official  labours,  Rickman  was  ever 
amassing  information  in  economic  subjects  which  he  was 
ready  to  put  at  the  disposal  of  a  committee  or  a  friend,  no 
matter  how  much  labour  it  cost  him.  His  letters  to 
Southey  nearly  all  contain  answers  to  questions  which 
had  arisen  in  the  course  of  Southey's  literary  work,  and  in 
many  cases  four  or  five  closely  written  folio  pages  followed 
almost  by  a  return  some  query  from  Keswick.  Of  the 
article  in  the  Quarterly  for  April  1818,  which  was  nominally 
the  work  of  Southey,  I  shall  speak  in  a  later  chapter. 

Rickman's  unprinted  pamphlets  and  papers  have  all 
been  lost,  though  a  complete  list  of  them  is  given  in  the 
memoir  by  his  son.  He  published  pamphlets  on  Poor 
Law  amendment  and  the  Poor  Law  in  Ireland  in  1832  and 
1833  respectively.  His  only  other  literary  work  was  to 
edit  Lord  Colchester's  speeches,  delivered  when  he  was 
Speaker,  conveying  the  thanks  of  the  House  to  the  military 
commanders  between  1807  and  1816.  The  volume  is  en- 
titled Military  Thanks,  and  is  prefaced  by  a  biographical 
sketch  of  Lord  Colchester. 

I  hope  that  I  have  managed  to  convey  some  general  idea 
of  Rickman's  social  and  family  life,  his  amusements  and  his 
labours,  and  that  this  digression  will  explain,  without  need 
of  further  comment,  many  allusions  in  the  letters  which 
follow. 


CHAPTER  VI 


1806-1816 


Political  letters  to  Southey  and  Poole — The  Friend — The  Regency  Bill — 
The  Quarterly  Review — Burnett's  death — Coleridge  on  Lamb's  weak- 
nesses— Shelley — Murder  of  Perceval — Coleridge  on  '  Remorse  ' — 
Rickman's  good  advice  to  Southey — Southey  Poet  Laureate — His 
truculence  curbed  by  Rickman — Waterloo — Rickman  the  consoler — 
Economic  distress  in  the  country — Rickman  on  '  Mock  Humanity ' 
and  the  Press. 

The  period  of  eleven  years,  from  1806  to  1816,  was  a  most 
momentous  one  in  English  history.  Home  affairs  were 
completely  overshadowed  by  the  progress  of  our  armies 
in  the  Peninsula  and  of  Napoleon's  armies  on  the  Continent. 
Southey,  having  twice  visited  Portugal,  was  particularly 
interested  in  the  Peninsular  War,  and  few  letters  passed 
between  him  and  Rickman  which  did  not  contain  some 
allusion  to  the  campaigns  or  criticism  of  the  strategy. 
They  paid  less  attention  to  Napoleon's  victories  in  Prussia, 
though  they  rejoiced  over  Moscow  and  Waterloo.  To  the 
war  with  America  there  is  no  reference,  and  what  is  still 
more  strange  is  that  the  economist,  Rickman,  never  remarks 
upon  the  continental  system  or  the  Orders  in  Council, 
though  these  measures  and  counter-measures  affecting 
trade  were  of  vital  importance  to  the  protagonists  in  the 
great  struggle.  The  deaths  of  Pitt  and  Fox,  the  various 
changes  of  Government  before  Perceval's  assassination, 
and  the  intrigues  which  centred  round  the  Regency  drew 
comments  from  Rickman,  though  his  more  intimate  con- 
nection with  the  Parliamentary  debates  only  began  in  1814, 
when  he  came  as  a  Clerk  to  the  Table  of  the  House.  The 
subject,  perhaps,  which  most  engaged  the  attention  of  his 
leisure  hours  was  the  condition  of  the  poor,  and  the  generally 


136      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

unsatisfactory  economic  conditions  which  prevailed  in 
England  during  the  later  part  of  this  period.  Most  of  the 
evils  he  assigned  to  the  bad  administration  of  the  poor 
rate  and  want  of  education,  refusing  on  theoretical  grounds 
to  admit  that  the  undoubted  excess  of  manufactured  com- 
modities over  the  demand,  due  to  mechanical  inventions, 
was  anything  but  a  sign  of  prosperity.  A  great  deal  of  the 
correspondence  with  Southey  was  concerned  with  Southey's 
literary  work,  the  discussion  of  books,  and  family  details 
(Rickman's  children  were  all  born  during  this  time)  which 
are  to-day  hardly  of  compelling  interest. 

In  the  early  part  of  1806  Rickman  discussed  with  Southey 
some  of  the  questions  raised  in  the  poet's  Espriella  letters. 
In  particular,  the  sturdy  Rickman  objected  to  any  criticism 
of  pugilism,  contending  that  it  was  a  convenient  safety- 
valve  for  violent  passions.  In  April  Southey  came  to 
stay  at  Westminster  and  make  the  acquaintance  of 
Mrs.  Rickman.  However,  the  chief  letters  of  interest  for 
this  year  are  those  from  Rickman  to  Thomas  Poole,  to 
whom  he  paid  a  short  visit  in  August.  The  selections 
which  I  have  made  chiefly  refer  to  politics.  In  January 
Pitt  fell  mortally  ill,  and  died.  After  some  negotiations 
between  Grenville,  Fox,  and  the  King  the  Ministry  of  All 
the  Talents  was  formed,  which  included  Lord  Howick 
(afterwards  Lord  Grey)  and  Lord  Henry  Petty  (afterwards 
Lord  Lansdowne),  as  first  Lord  of  the  Admiralty  and 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  respectively.  The  King's 
known  dislike  for  Fox  caused  the  wildest  political  rumours 
to  circulate  as  to  the  terms  which  had  been  agreed  upon, 
and  it  may  safely  be  said  that  Rickman's  story  in  the  first 
letter  about  the  Duke  of  York  is  false.  When  Colonel 
Wardle  caused  an  inquiry  to  be  made  into  his  conduct  in 
1809,  it  was  proved  that  his  hands  had  been  entirely  clean, 
however  injudicious  he  had  been  in  allowing  the  notorious 
Mrs.  Clarke  to  use  illegitimate  influence  on  behalf  of  her 
admirers.  The  five  letters  to  Poole  explain  themselves  for 
the  most  part,  so  that  further  preamble  is  unnecessary. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      137 

'  31st  January  1806. 

' .  .  .  The  political  world  is  very  busy,  but  I  remain 
indifferent  and  uninterested  as  usual,  thinking  evil  more 
radical  than  to  be  cured  by  any  men  shackled  with  certain 
deliberative  bodies.  Perhaps  you  do  not  know  in  the 
country  what  made  G.  R.  agree  so  soon  to  receive  men  he 
hates  so  thoroughly  and  eternally.  The  Duke  of  Y.  was 
so  terrified  at  the  expectation  of  impeachment  for  dis- 
posal of  commissions  in  the  army  gazetted  "  without 
purchase  "  that  he  prevailed  on  his  father  to  make  his 
own  non-impeachment  the  only  stipulation.  The  wretch 
is  frightened  out  of  his  little  wit  and  is  said  to  have 
threatened  self-murder  if  Fox  came  in  without  that  bargain. 
The  P.  of  W.  was  understood  to  be  the  chief  mover  against 
his  rascal  brother,  ipse  pejor.  .  .  .' 

The  army  reform  mentioned  in  the  next  letter  was  left 
to  be  carried  out  by  Castlereagh  in  the  Portland  admini- 
stration of  1807  :  the  measure  passed  in  1806  only  made 
further  provision  for  the  training  of  the  militia.  The 
'  Duke  of  York's  Council  '  was  the  advisory  council  advo- 
cated by  Grenville  to  control  the  Commander-in-Chief, 
but  the  King's  opposition  to  the  scheme  caused  it  to  be 
given  up.  Lord  Moira  was  Master  of  Ordnance  ;  Alexander 
Davison  was  the  Government  contractor,  Nelson's  friend, 
who  was  convicted  in  1808  of  charging  buyer's  commis- 
sion for  goods  supplied  by  himself  as  merchant  ;  Colonel 
(afterwards  General  Sir  Herbert)  Taylor  was  then  the 
King's  private  secretary ;  Sir  Robert  Calder  was  the 
admiral  who  was  court-martialled  and  severely  repri- 
manded for  his  failure  to  follow  up  a  victory  gained  off 
Cape  Finisterre  in   1805  against  the  French  and  Spanish 


'  13th  March  1806. 
'  I  am  glad  to  learn  by  yours  of  the  18th  February  that 
your  benevolent  efforts  go  on  favourably.    I  do  not  see  much 
good  likely  to  be  done  here  in  the  large  way,  and  can  tell 


138      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  HICKMAN 

you  nothing  at  all  about  the  intentions  of  the  new  Ministry 
from  whom  I  do  not  and  did  not  hope  much  ;  the  evil  is 
more  radical,  I  fear,  than  anything  so  trifling  as  this  or  that 
Ministry  can  cure.  I  believe  the  present  people  cannot 
at  all  agree  among  themselves  even  about  the  army  reform 
so  much  talked  of  by  themselves  before  they  were  in.  Yet 
there  is  good  room  for  easy  improvement ;  above  two  and 
a  half  millions  thrown  away  at  present  upon  volunteers 
would  maintain  about  seventy  thousand  regulars,  and  the 
unofficered  militia  swallows  up  about  three  and  a  half 
millions  which  would  maintain  almost  a  hundred  thousand 
men.  As  to  the  Duke  of  York's  Council  I  believe  it  is 
given  up  and  his  promise  of  amendment  accepted.  It  is 
sufficient  sign  of  assentation  and  compromise  that  he 
remains  at  all,  and  perhaps  he  may  not  long,  as  the  Court 
at  Carlton  House  is  against  him.  The  new  Ministry  have 
done  infinite  harm  to  themselves  by  suffering  the  inter- 
ference of  the  P.  of  W.  to  such  an  extent.  He  has  been 
appointed  to  most  of  the  great  offices  ;  the  ordnance  is 
all  his  own  and  figures  away  accordingly  ;  Lord  Moira  is 
a  mere  Don  Quixote  and  of  Alexander  Davison  (alias  in 
the  House  of  Commons  Trotter) — what  can  be  said  but 
that  the  salary  of  the  Treasurership  of  the  Ordnance  pays 
interest  for  a  sum  of  money  lent  by  him  to  Carlton  House  ! 
I  do  not  know  much  of  Colonel  Taylor  ;  by  a  report  he  is 
a  man  of  remarkably  good  abilities  especially  as  a  linguist. 
As  to  Reform  of  Parliament  Grey  1  has  told  the  applicants 
"  this  is  not  a  proper  time."  Pitt  said  so  once  before  and 
for  the  same  reason.  I  should  reckon  Reform  of  Parlia- 
ment certain  ruin  to  an  old  shattered  edifice  very  unsafe 
for  its  inmates  already.  By  these  I  do  not  mean  the  House 
of  Commons  but  the  people  whom  it  governs  ;  which  is 
much  worse.  As  for  Fox  he  too  has  discovered  "  that 
this  is  not  a  season  for  the  Catholic  claims."  And  all  of 
them  have  discovered  "  that  Lord  Wellesley  has  been 
quite  right  in  the  East,  though  the  Commerce  of  the  E.  I. 
Company  is  ruined  by  his  extravagance,"  chiefly  by  his 

1  Charles  Grey ;  he  succeeded  to  the  title  of  Lord  Howick  in  this  year. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      139 

personal  extravagance.  2,300  boats  to  escort  him  on  the 
Ganges  !  I  question  whether  any  tea  can  be  bought  in 
China  this  year.  But  Lord  Wellesley  is  a  friend  of  Lord 
Grenville's.  I  suppose  St.  Vincent's  command  will  disgust 
the  whole  navy.  The  hoary  tyrant  now  domineers  from 
the  Mediterranean  to  the  North  Pole.  The  lately  pub- 
lished life  of  Nelson  proves  that  the  action  which  gave  him 
fame,  a  title  and  a  pension  ought  to  have  given  him  a  halter 
for  his  base  desertion  of  Nelson,  who  fought  the  whole  fleet 
of  the  enemy  but  whose  name  is  not  mentioned  in  the  de- 
spatches of  St.  Vincent ;  the  omission,  I  understand,  was 
at  the  suggestion  of  Calder,  another  worthy  who  has  lately 
escaped  hanging  (or  rather  shooting)  by  the  kindness  of 
the  late  Admiralty  in  keeping  back  both  charges  and 
evidence.  .  .  . 

'  Captain  Burney  is  well  and  just  about  to  produce  his 
second  volume.  .  .  . 

'  P.S.  The  Army  estimates  are  voted  for  2  months  only, 
so  that  within  that  time  the  mountain  is  to  bring  forth. 
Do  not  let  anyone  see  this  letter.' 

The  impeachment  of  Lord  Melville,  the  passing  of  the 
motion  for  which  in  the  Commons  so  distressed  Pitt,  re- 
sulted in  his  acquittal.  The  charge  was  of  misapplication 
of  public  money  when  he  was  treasurer  of  the  navy. 

'  30th  April  1806. 

'  I  am  just  escaped  from  Westminster  Hall  leaving  our 
people  and  the  House  of  Lords  busy  there  on  Melville's 
impeachment.  Whitbread  opened  yesterday,  making  a 
tolerable  exordium  but  nothing  good  afterwards :  his 
speech  being  very  much  the  same  thing  as  an  appendix 
to  one  of  the  naval  inquiry  reports.  I  suppose  somebody 
has  told  him  that  his  savage  spirit  has  been  rather  too 
manifest  in  some  of  his  proceedings,  so  he  made  a  long 
distinction  between  persecution  and  prosecution,  showing 
that  this  trial  was  of  the  latter  kind.  This  tenor  of  his 
mind  had  a  ridiculous  effect  throughout  his  speech.    Now 


140      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

and  then  out  popped  something  "  with  a  damned  deal  of 
the  Brewer  in  it,"  and  when  he  became  conscious  of  this 
he  tried  to  repair  it  by  extravagant  encomium  on  the  party 
aggrieved,  so  that  in  the  course  of  his  speech  you  learned 
that  he  thought  Pitt  had  been  a  sun  in  the  political  firma- 
ment and  lamented  his  death  as  a  deep  national  loss.  After 
he  had  talked  coarsely  of  Lord  Melville  as  a  man  who  had 
affirmed  and  even  written  direct  falsehoods  he  paid  him 
for  this  unnecessary  insult  by  calling  him  a  man  of  the 
greatest  ability,  of  most  generous  spirit,  of  the  loftiest 
contempt  of  pecuniary  gain,  admitting  the  propriety  of 
the  personal  attachment  of  his  many  friends.  Melville 
seemed  to  eye  him  with  sour  contempt,  not  at  all  receiving 
this  kind  of  expiation  as  an  amende  honorable.  I  do  not 
see,  after  this  kind  of  absurd  encomium  with  what  pro- 
priety punishment  can  be  urged,  surely  such  a  man  has 
sustained  more  than  punishment  enough  already.  Whit- 
bread  himself  would  doubtless  suck  his  blood  to  the  last 
drop,  but  I  imagine  nobody  else  cares  a  farthing  about 
him  ;  this  is  a  good  symptom  that  the  trial  will  not  be 
protracted.  The  accusation  of  the  man  made  way  for  the 
change  of  administration  ;  without  it  Melville  had  now 
headed  the  Pittites  instead  of  sitting  on  a  lowly  stool  at 
the  Lords'  Bar.  It  is  curious  that  the  thing  now  praised 
in  him,  the  abolition  of  fees  at  the  Navy  o'ffice,  is  the  worst 
thing  he  ever  did  in  his  life.  The  effect  of  it  has  been  that 
the  clerks  are  doubled  in  number  and  all  business  of  account 
in  long  arrear.  You  will  understand  this  if  you  personate 
for  a  moment  a  purser,  or  even  an  officer  about  to  receive 
pay  ;  formerly  you  said  to  any  junior  clerk  that  you  desired 
the  thing  to  be  done,  and,  a  fee  of  a  guinea  being  under- 
stood, the  clerk  worked  for  you  till  the  thing  was  done. 
At  present  the  same  fee  is  received  for  the  public  under  the 
name  of  a  fee  fund  and  the  clerks,  having  no  power  of  thus 
augmenting  their  scanty  income  by  fair  labour  bestowed 
for  applicants  at  the  office,  slumber  over  the  desks  and 
duly  depart  at  four  in  the  afternoon.  For  this  reform 
Melville   receives   applause  !     And  no   officer  receives   his 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      141 

pay,  or  purser  settles  his  accounts,  without  ruinous  delay, 
though  he  pays  as  much  as  before.  A  curse  on  all  re- 
formers ;  the  few  that  do  good  bear  no  proportion  to  those 
that  do  mischief — a  bad  breed  who  might  all  be  hanged 
with  national  benefit. 

'  Charley  Fox  eats  his  former  opinions  daily,  and  even 
ostentatiously,  showing  himself  the  worst  man  but  the 
better  minister  of  a  corrupt  Government  where  three 
people  in  four  must  be  rogues  and  three  deeds  in  four  bad. 
To-day  we  have  the  new  Army  Bills  debated.  I  see  little 
to  care  about  in  them,  except  the  gradual  abolition  of  the 
militia  which  seems  intended.  It  was  foolish  in  Windham 
to  talk  of  the  volunteers  as  almost  enemies  of  their  country. 
There  is  much  offence  given  by  this,  and  to-day  we  shall 
have  his  apologies  under  the  title  of  explanation  I  suppose  ! 
He  has  praised  the  Duke  of  Y.  egregiously.  The  Irish 
Population  Bill  is  dropped,  why  I  know  not.  I  took  the 
trouble  to  correct  it  for  the  muddy-headed  man  that  brought 
it  in,  and  I  believe  my  observations  on  his  errors  and 
blunders  disgusted  him.  I  am  glad  it  is  dropped,  expect- 
ing to  see  it  in  better  hands  next  year.  .  .  .' 

'  29th  June  1806. 
'  .  .  .  You  may  well  depict  the  conduct  of  the  vaunted 
Whigs.  You  know  how  little  I  expect  from  any  Ministry 
while  a  Ministry  has  so  little  free  will,  but  I  did  not  expect 
what  I  may  venture  to  call  an  ostentatious  dereliction  of 
all  the  principles  produced  in  his  long  political  life  of  C.  Fox. 
He  takes  a  manifest  pleasure  in  publishing  his  own  apostacy. 
He  should  have  died  for  his  fame  a  little  sooner — before 
Pitt.  Now  he  is  likely  to  die  within  a  fortnight  and  may 
have  such  an  epitaph  as  fair  Rosamund.  The  probable 
speculation  is  that  at  his  death  the  Whigs  and  the  Adding- 
tons  go  out  and  Lord  Grenville  takes  the  Pittites  into 
partnership.  Indeed  if  Fox  lives  the  same  thing  may 
possibly  happen.  He  is  said  to  be  imperious  and  conse- 
quently odious  in  the  Cabinet.  Windham  is  unfit  for 
business  though  not  a  Whig.     Lord  St.  Vincent  and  Lord 


142      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

Ho  wick  may  be  reckoned  the  Ursa  Major  and  Ursa  Minor 
in  partnership  at  the  Admiralty,  having  nothing  remark- 
able but  ill-nature  and  ill-manners.  Lord  Henry  Petty 
has  been  produced  too  soon,  he  should  have  been  a  recipient 
(as  you  call  him)  ten  years  longer.  He  will  soon  sink  en- 
tirely at  the  end  of  his  taxation  before  he  gets  through  one 
budget,  a  percentage  on  the  assessed  taxes  being  manifestly 
a  last  resource,  and  what  a  resource  !  Mr.  Rose  has  pretty 
well  expounded  his  Public  Accountant  scheme  to  be  a 
patronage  scheme.1  There  is  a  proverb  about  setting  a 
thief  to  catch  a  thief,  but  this  is  sparring  without  mufflers 
and  will  enlighten  the  public  too  much.  Heretofore  there 
has  been  an  understood  caution  not  to  call  the  mysteries 
of  our  Government  by  coarse  names,  which  must  soon 
destroy  its  reputation  even  with  the  vulgar.  .  .  .' 

'  August  3lst,  1806. 

'  I  found  your  letter  awaiting  me  here  and  now  thank  you 
for  your  hearty  invitation,  which  you  find  I  acted  upon  by 
the  spirit  of  prophesy,  or,  in  profaner  language,  of  antici- 
pation. I  assure  you  I  am  exceedingly  pleased  with  the 
mode  and  capabilities  of  your  hospitality,  and  enjoyed 
myself  even  more  than  I  expected,  though  I  had  before 
no  mean  opinion  of  your  fertile  county  or  of  its  inhabitants. 
My  sister  too  desires  to  offer  her  best  thanks  for  your 
attention  to  her. 

'  We  had  a  pleasant  journey  homewards,  the  rain  being 
trifling,  you  sent  us  one  long  expected  scud  from  Bridgwater 
to  Polsden  Hill  which  made  us  stop  under  shelter  of  a  hedge 
for  ten  minutes. 

'  We  saw  Glastonbury  Ruins  and  Wells  Cathedral  and 
reached  Frome  at  6  o'clock.  The  city  of  Wells  seems  to 
me  the  most  comfortable  looking  town  I  have  ever  seen. 
I  suppose  the  real  or  prepared  residence  of  the  clergy  adds 
many  good  houses  to  it.     I  was  quite  in  a  monastic  humour 

1  This  refers  to  a  measure  passed  for  consolidating  the  Boards  of  Com- 
missioners for  auditing  Public  Accounts.  The  Commissioners  were  to  have 
large  salaries,  the  chairman  £1500,  and  his  colleagues  £1200  each. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN      143 

before  night,  being  always  sufficiently  disposed  to  think 
with  regard  of  the  religious  institutions  abolished  by  the 
rapacity  of  a  detestable  tyrant  whereby  fox-hounds  and 
country  squires  have  since  been  maintained  instead  of 
educated  men  and  respectable  women — whereby  too,  mark 
me,  the  evil  of  the  Poor  Laws  was  first  established.  .  .  . 

'  Coleridge  is  in  town  ;  he  is  said  to  return  poor,  and  says 
that  on  some  occasion  he  was  forced  to  throw  over-board 
his  MSS.  intended  for  publication.  Perhaps  these  were 
MSS.  he  had  intended  to  write.  I  do  not  forget  the  story 
of  the  two  quartos  ready  for  publication  which  he  talked 
of  before  he  commenced  traveller.  .  .  / 

It  is  perhaps  not  quite  easy  to  explain  Rickman's  objec- 
tion to  Fox's  '  apostacy,'  though  it  is  to  some  extent 
explained  in  the  following  letter  to  Southey.  The  fact 
was  that  Fox  loyally  continued  Pitt's  policy  of  resistance 
to  Napoleon  by  means  of  alliances  on  the  Continent,  and 
recognised  that  it  was  not  the  time  for  pressing  his  former 
views  of  peace  and  Parliamentary  reform.  Rickman  had 
no  desire  for  peace  or  reform,  at  any  rate,  and  he  does  not 
specify  what  measures  would  have  commanded  his  admira- 
tion.    Perhaps  he  was  secretly  longing  for  a  despotism. 

'Dec.  29,  1806. 
'  .  .  .  Lately  we  have  had  good  specimen  of  this  most 
politic  indecision  :  people  begin  to  say  that  we  pay  too 
dearly  for  the  pleasure  of  having  a  Government  composed 
of  checks,  that  is,  of  low  clashing  interests,  which  makes 
our  colossal  strength  ridiculous  rather  than  efficient.  What 
a  whimsical  negotiation  we  have  had  !  Says  Geo.  ni.  to 
Mr.  Bonaparte — "  I  must  have  my  dear  Hanover."  "  Cer- 
tainly," says  Mr.  B.,  "  because  England  will  always  remain 
my  slave  while  I  can  always  threaten  to  seize  it ;  and  there- 
fore, you,  Mr.  King  of  Prussia,  must  give  me  Hanover,  that 
I  may  give  it  to  England,  as  an  equivalent  for  some  share 
of  her  colonies  and  commerce  :  and  I  must  also  have  an 
open  road  to  this  Hanover,  that  I  may  be  able  to  take  it 


144      LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

without  discussions  with  you  about  my  march  thither ; 
therefore,  good  Mr.  King  of  Prussia,  I  must  have  your  East 
Friesland  of  you  too."  This  K.  of  P.  (who  had  made  so 
great  a  mistake  as  to  suppose  he  had  a  good  army,  for  no 
better  reason  than  because  he  had  never  tried  it)  expressed 
his  rage  at  being  likely  to  be  pillaged  of  his  pillage,  earned 
by  so  many  lies  and  base  condescensions.  So  he  fought, 
and  was  conquered  in  about  half  an  hour,  with  this  appro- 
priate aggravation  of  his  misfortune,  that  he  feared  to  tell  the 
real  cause  of  the  war,  so  implicated  is  he  in  French  politics. 
I  am  heartily  glad  at  the  rupture  of  the  negotiation  with  us. 
Who  can  tell  the  mischiefs  of  a  peace  founded  on  the  adop- 
tion of  Hanover  by  C.  J.  Fox,  and  to  be  perpetuated  only 
by  condescensions  to  our  mortal  enemy,  on  account  of  that 
Hanover  ?  Soon  it  would  have  been  obvious  to  the  very 
Vulgar  that  the  interest  of  the  nation  had  been  sacrificed 
to  the  King's  private  partialities,  and  that  in  fact  he  had 
delivered  us  bound  into  the  hand  of  France  !  .  .  .' 

The  correspondence  between  Rickman  and  Southey  during 
1807  was  mainly  occupied  with  the  details  of  Southey 's 
history  of  Brazil,  on  which  he  was  busily  engaged.  There 
were  one  or  two  allusions  to  Burnett's  improvement,  and 
one  letter  from  Southey  contains  a  strong  animadversion 
on  Coleridge's  separation  from  his  wife,  in  which  he  declared 
that  Coleridge's  habits  were  '  murderous  of  all  domestic 
comfort.'  Rickman  replied  in  much  the  same  spirit,  saying 
that  he  had  heard  Coleridge  called  for  brandy  in  the  morn- 
ing '  without  respect  of  persons.'  In  this  year,  too,  Southey 
received  a  proposal  to  write  for  the  Edinburgh  Review,  upon 
which  he  consulted  Rickman,  finally  refusing  the  offer. 
The  Ministry  of  All  the  Talents,  after  passing  the  abolition 
of  the  slave  trade — to  which  Rickman  does  not  refer — fell 
in  March,  owing  to  Howick's  moving  for  leave  to  bring 
in  a  bill  opening  all  commissions  in  the  army  and  navy 
to  Roman  Catholics.  The  King  refused  his  sanction,  and 
required  his  ministers  to  give  him  a  written  pledge  never  to 
urge  concessions  to  Roman  Catholics  upon  him.     This  they 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  HICKMAN    145 

refused  to  do,  and  resigned.  The  nominal  head  of  the  new 
Government  was  Portland,  but  Perceval  was  the  real  leader. 
The  following  is  an  extract  from  a  letter  to  Southey  : — 

'  26  March,  1807. 

'  High  hustle  we  are  in  here  with  the  change  of  admini- 
stration, a  great  evil ;  because  now  again  nobody  in  office 
will  know  his  business  for  three  months  ;  anarchy  all. — Who 
has  done  this  ?  The  Catholic  Bill  gave  Geo.  m.  opportunity, 
which,  by  the  advice  of  his  sage  sons,  he  has  not  neglected, 
and  now  we  are  to  have  apparently  a  short  lived  admini- 
stration, and  perhaps  a  new  Parliament.  The  very  mob  will 
be  let  into  the  secret  that  without  forbearances  and  cour- 
tesies and  understandings  the  English  form  of  supposed 
government  is  no  govt,  at  all.  I  am  glad  you  are  agt.  the 
Catholic  Military  Service  Bill.  I  am  so,  taking  that  to  be 
the  common-sense  side  of  the  question.  If  one  made  them 
M.P.'s  and  magistrates,  it  would  be  said,  this  is  dangerous, 
chiefly  because  it  may  introduce  them  by  successive  indul- 
gences into  the  army  and  navy.  But  this  bill  began  with 
the  greater  mischief,  by  some  infatuation  of  Grenville  and 
Howick.  It  would  have  produced  a  Roman  Cath.  Chaplain 
into  every  ship  of  the  Navy,  in  its  immediate  operation. 
Would  not  the  ships  soon  put  into  Brest  ?  At  least  we 
should  look  for  mutinies  out  of  number,  when  there  was  a 
Holy  Legate  over  the  Captain  of  the  ship.  .  .  .' 

A  letter  to  Poole  expresses  very  much  the  same  opinion. 

<  8th  April  1807. 

'  ...  As  to  politics — all  bad — I  do  not  see  how  they 
can  help  uncovering  the  nakedness  of  our  venerable  form 
of  Government,  and  the  old  lady  so  treated  will  I  fear  look 
very  ridiculous  !  If  the  present  Government  stands,  the 
King  is  an  absolute  monarch  ;  if  they  do  not  stand  and  the 
Grenville  and  Howick  people  come  in  again,  it  seems  we  are 
to  be  plagued  with  the  Catholic  question.  I  have  not  seen 
in  the  newspapers  Sheridan's  witticism  "  that  he  had  heard 
K 


146    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

of  people  running  their  heads  against  a  stone  wall,  but  never 
before  of  their  building  a  stone  wall  for  that  purpose."  This 
seems  very  just  of  the  exit  of  the  late  Ministry,  and  to  this 
hour  is  a  most  incomprehensible  thing  to  me,  how  they 
could  commence  their  meditated  indulgence  to  the  wild  Irish 
by  admitting  their  religion  into  the  army  and  navy.  In 
immediate  prospect  the  Bill  permitted  an  R.C.  Priest  in 
every  ship  of  war.  Who  would  be  Captain  then  ?  If  not 
the  R.C.  Priest,  the  ship  would  be  in  a  mutiny  and  sail  for 
Brest.  I  am  sick  of  all  politics.  To-morrow  at  this  time 
there  will  be  a  fine  battle  in  the  House  of  Commons.1  A 
game  of  skittles  in  a  china  shop,  a  battle  for  pillage  in  a 
shipwreck. 

'  I  have  not  heard  of  the  opinion  of  the  Prince  of  Wales' 
speedy  decease,  but  have  no  great  objection.  It  is  said  that 
the  royal  Dukes  have  much  to  do  with  present  politics. 
For  my  part  I  shall  think  nothing  of  any  Ministry  who 
permit  such  a  wretch  as  the  Duke  of  Y.  to  remain  at  the 
head  of  the  army.  For  this  thing,  inter  alia,  I  despised  the 
late  Administration  heartily.  But  one  cannot  live  so  near 
the  House  of  Commons  without  becoming  cynical  towards  all 
who  figure  there.  It  will  not  much  improve  my  respect 
for  them  if  the  new  men  have  a  majority  tomorrow.  I 
hear  that  the  parties  are  numbered  to  be  within  20  of  each 
other.     Even  so  there  must  be  a  good  crop  of  apostacy. 

'  I  conclude  this  odious  subject  with  my  old  opinion  that 
with  many  changes  our  Government  is  nearly  a  nonentity, 
and  a  habit  of  that  sort  will  soon  destroy  it  totally.  Shall 
we  five  to  see  an  embassy  to  France  to  send  over  somebody 
to  govern  us  ?  .  .  .' 

The  only  other  extract  for  this  year  is  from  a  letter  to 
Southey  giving  Rickman's  opinion  of  Perceval.  It  proves 
that  his  estimates  of  ability  were  as  fallible  as  those  of  most 
partisans.  It  will  be  seen  that  by  the  time  of  Perceval's 
death  he  had  virtually  recanted  his  harsh  judgment. 

1  On  April  9  there  was  a  debate  upon  a  motion  that  it  was  wrong  for 
ministers  to  constrain  themselves  by  any  kind  of  pledge  not  to  give  advice 
to  the  Crown  on  any  subject. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     147 

<  May  23,  1807. 

'  .  .  .  Another  month  peoples  the  Ho.  Commons  again, 
with  the  same  breed  doubtless,  but  more  in  favour  of  the 
present  Ministry  than  was  expected  even  by  themselves. 
They  have  made  a  worse  administration  than  was  neces- 
sary. How  could  they  think  of  disturbing  the  dotage  of 
an  approved  fool,  and  of  making  Perceval  Chanr.  of  the 
Excheqr.  ?  I  suppose  he  never  learned  more  than  the  four 
first  rules  of  arithmetic,  and  has  not  practiced  one  of  them 
for  20  years  last  past.  A  polite  scholar,  and  a  generous 
man — but  as  Chancr.  of  the  Excheqr. ! — Alas  for  England  ! ' 

The  years  1808  and  1809  produced  no  very  striking  letters. 
The  birth  of  Rickman's  daughter  Ann  was  the  theme  of  a 
humorous  letter  from  Southey  on  the  superiority  of  girls 
to  boys.  Literary  matters  and  the  Peninsular  War  were  the 
chief  topics  of  correspondence  :  Rickman  gave  criticisms  of 
a  new  edition  of  Southey's  '  Cid,'  and  of  Coleridge's  paper 
The  Friend,  in  which  Southey  assisted.  In  1808  Southey 
again  stayed  with  Rickman,  who  returned  the  visit  in  the 
succeeding  year.  Of  the  three  extracts  here  given  from 
letters  to  Southey,  the  first  is  to  show  that  Rickman's  view 
of  the  power  of  the  House  of  Commons  differed  materially 
from  that  which  he  expressed  in  1831  and  1832,  when  the 
Lords  were  presenting  a  stiff  front  to  the  passage  of  the 
Reform  Bill. 

1  June  22,  1808. 
'  .  .  .  Tomorrow  Perceval  is  such  a  blockhead  as  to 
intend  to  move  for  a  deviation  from  the  usual  manner  of 
putting  all  the  grants  of  the  year  in  one  Appropriation  Act, 
and  this  for  fear  the  Lords  should  throw  it  out  ;  as  both  he 
and  they  would  both  rather  do  injustice  to  Palmer  than 
not  worship  the  former  opinions  of  Billy  Pitt,  the  Talker. 
If  Mr.  Perceval  does  this,  which  is  nearly  equivalent  to 
moving  for  an  abolition  of  the  power  of  the  Ho.  Commons, 
he  will  raise  a  flame  which  will  consume  far  beyond  himself 
and  his  associates.' 


148    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

The  next  extract  refers  to  the  foundation  of  the  Quarterly 
Review,  of  which  Southey  became  one  of  the  pillars.  The 
scheme  of  publishing  a  counterblast  to  the  Edinburgh 
Review  was  started  in  1808,  and  in  a  letter  to  G.  C.  Bedford 
Southey  had  already  suggested  that  Rickman's  name  should 
stand  on  the  list  of  contributors  instead  of  Malthus. 
•  Rickman,'  he  said,  '  has  tenfold  his  knowledge  and  abili- 
ties. There  is  no  man  living  equal  to  Rickman  upon  the 
subject  of  political  economy.  He,  too,  is  a  Crusader  as  to 
this  war.     Malthus  will  prove  a  peacemonger.' 

But  Rickman  had  some  insuperable  objection  to  obtaining 
notoriety  by  writing.  In  spite  of  his  obvious  qualifications 
and  his  burning  interest  in  many  questions  which  such 
a  review  would  discuss,  he  could  not  bring  himself  to  write 
for  the  Press.     He  therefore  wrote  : — 

■  Feb.  6,  1809. 

* .  .  .  I  write  in  furious  haste,  or  I  would  say  something 
about  a  Quarterly  Review  about  which  Mr.  G.  Bedford 
talked  to  me  the  other  day ;  he  says  you  are  concerned  to 
help  it,  and  that  you  wish  me  to  help,  which  I  do  not  know 
that  I  can  do.  If  you  really  care  about  it,  I  daresay  that, 
interposing  you  as  a  shield  from  notoriety,  I  could  find  time 
for  such  few  books  as  you  might  think  fit.  However  I 
gave  the  said  G.  B.  little  encouragement,  not  expecting  the 
Review  likely  to  be  the  better  for  his  being  suffered  to 
write  in  it.' 

The  following  extract  speaks  for  itself ;  I  include  it  to 
show  that  on  occasion  Rickman  could  translate  the  tender- 
ness of  his  heart  into  the  written  word  : — 

'Aug.  11,  1809. 

* .  .  .  See  the  instability  of  human  affairs  !  I,  who 
talked  of  going  to  Keswick,  am  now  at  Christchurch,  sum- 
moned to  attend  the  funeral  of  my  good  Father,  who  is 
to  be  gathered  to  his  ancestors  at  Milford  .  .  .  tomorrow. 
His  illness  was  short  ...  so  that  he  has  died,  as  desirable, 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    149 

at  a  good  old  age,  and  without  the  sting  of  mortal  disso- 
lution. Peace  be  with  him  !  A  man  of  milder  temper  and 
of  more  general  benignity  never  lived.  In  the  peacefull 
qualities  of  the  mind,  a  better  man  than  his  son  :  in  activity, 
perhaps  in  utility,  inferior.  You  knew  him,  and  I  think 
held  his  countenance  and  his  heart  to  be  in  happy  unison.' 

The  end  of  1809  was  notable  for  the  unfortunate 
Walcheren  expedition,  the  duel  between  Castlereagh  and 
Canning,  and  the  subsequent  collapse  of  Portland's  Cabinet, 
which  was  shortly  followed  by  Portland's  death.  After 
considerable  negotiation  between  the  King  and  various 
parties,  Perceval  became  Prime  Minister,  Grenville  and 
Grey  having  found  it  impossible  to  accept  office.  The 
year  1810  opened  with  great  public  discontent  over 
the  Walcheren  failure,  and  excitement  was  deliberately 
fomented  by  Cobbett,  Sir  Francis  Burdett,  and  other  re- 
formers. The  famous  arrest  of  Burdett,  which  caused 
serious  riots,  took  place  in  April,  but  the  unrest  subsided 
before  Parliament  adjourned.  The  best  letter  of  this  year 
is  to  Thomas  Poole. 

■  11th  January  1810. 

' ...  It  seems  high  time  that  Parliament  should  meet, 
that  it  may  not  be  supplanted  by  the  rival  legislation 
of  linen  drapers  and  shopmen  at  Guildhall.  If  their 
impudence  were  not  dangerous  it  would  afford  amusement 
to  think  of  these  fellows  bullying  the  poor  old  King  to 
receive  personally  their  address,  differing  only  by  the 
insertion  of  a  little  insolence  from  one  received  by  him  from 
the  Corporation  of  London  a  few  days  before.  I  have  not 
read  Cobbett  *  for  some  time,  but  suppose  this  must  be 
thought  a  very  patriotic  impudence  in  the  Livery  by  him 
and  his  adherents.  True  it  is  however  that  the  original 
weakness  and  unlucky  dissention  in  the  present  administra- 
tion affords  dangerous  encouragement  to  the  malcontents 

1  Cobbett's  Weekly  Register. 


150    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  HICKMAN 

and  I  believe  it  is  fit  that  a  prudent  lover  of  his  country- 
should  rather  wish  for  new  faces  at  the  helm.  This  too 
seems  very  likely  to  happen,  and  it  must  be  allowed  that 
Lord  Grenville  and  Lord  Wellesley  with  Canning  and 
Huskisson,  for  a  financier  a  Vansittart,  would  form  a 
stronger  Government  than  we  have  now,  however  short  of 
what  might  be  wished.  The  M.  of  Wellesley  is  said  to 
treat  his  present  colleagues  with  intolerable  hauteur,  and 
I  suppose  will  find  it  very  difficult  to  drop  his  so  long 
assumed  character  of  an  Eastern  despot.  This  man  has 
abilities,  I  think,  of  acting  with  decision,  orator  he  is  not, 
and  of  wealth  and  Parlimentary  strength  in  boroughs  has 
little  or  nothing.  I  do  not  understand  why  he  and  his 
brothers  are  so  much  courted.  The  Opposition  say  that 
they  can  bring  240  votes  into  the  field  next  week,  and  I 
think  they  will  really  produce  full  two  thirds  of  that  number, 
or  even  180.  This  will  look  much  like  a  new  administration, 
and  I  suppose  if  the  Rump  Whigs  get  in  again  they  will  not 
ruin  themselves  by  vainly  expecting  to  last  for  ever,  as 
certainly  they  expected  after  Pitt's  death,  and  provoked 
the  nation  rather  to  repose  in  the  present  feeble  hands. 
Grenville,  I  hear,  retreats  considerably  from  his  designs 
against  the  Irish  Protestants  since  he  has  been  elected 
Chancellor  of  Oxford,  and  if  he  moderates  at  all  I  do  not  see 
what  more  he  can  desire  for  the  Catholics  than  they  have 
already.  I  am  in  hopes  that  Grey  will  not  come  in  if  the 
Ministry  changes,  and  I  reckon  that  Whitbread  will  by 
choice  stand  aloof  from  any  possible  administration,  and 
this  always  that  he  may  be  able  to  continue  his  delectable 
occupation  of  finding  fault  without  pointing  out  a  remedy. 

'  I  do  not  ask  whether  you  read  the  Friend  with  attention, 
as  I  believe  I  perceive  that  you  occasionally  furnish  matter 
for  it  from  your  cabinet  of  letters  from  C.  [Coleridge]  when 
he  was  in  Germany,  also  I  guess  you  supply  part  of  the 
ways  and  means,  as  I  understand  that  Mr.  Ward's  *  brother 
is  appointed  receiver.  When  I  call  and  pay  for  the  20 
numbers  I  will  introduce  myself  to  him.     Coleridge  to  be 

1  Thomas  Poole's  partner. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  HICKMAN    151 

sure  is  strangely  unlucky  in  his  Pay -Day  No.  20, x  which 
appears  entirely  unreadable.  He  should  have  reserved 
Mr.  Wordsworth's  crude  didactics  for  another  time  if  he 
must  needs  insert  such  mountain  lore.2  It  seems  to  me  that 
Wordsworth  has  neither  fun  nor  common  sense  in  him. 
He  soars  far  above  both,  and  in  my  notion  makes  himself 
disagreeable  and  ridiculous  accordingly.  Of  Coleridge 
however  I  think  the  better  for  his  friendly  productions, 
there  is  writing  of  a  high  order  thickly  interspersed — and 
putting  aside  any  expectation  of  method — a  fulfilment  of 
his  frequent  promises  ;  it  must  be  owned  that  he  often 
develops  sentiments  which  few  have  elevation  enough  to 
cogitate.  As  usual  in  his  conversation,  so  in  his  writing, 
he  does  the  devil's  dirty  work — flattery, — without  hope 
of  reward — and  now  we  are  to  expect  a  grand  batch  of  it, 
in  the  promised  eulogy  of  Sir  Alexander  Ball 3 — a  man  with 
whom  he  parted  on  the  worst  terms,  on  a  mutual  notorious 
hatred  of  each  other.  To  be  sure  Sir  Alexander's  family 
will  be  astonished  at  a  panegyric  from  S.  T.  C.  Yet  there  is 
room  for  panegyric,  and  if  C.  had  begun  with  saying,  "  Such 
is  the  infirmity  of  human  nature  that  personally  I  could 
not  endure  this  man,  yet  will  I  try  to  do  justice  to  his  merit," 
this  had  been  well.  The  contrary  is  not  very  much  unlike 
falsehood — and  partakes  of  the  old  failing,  flattery  without 
benefit  to  himself. 

'  I  have  asked  you  about  the  Poor  Laws — and  you  ask 
me — the  subject  is  too  large  for  a  letter  :  the  outline  of 
any  conclusion  is,  that  the  poor  rate  is  a  great  evil,  more 
in  the  trouble  it  gives  than  even  in  the  expense — and  I 
much  question  whether  it  does  any  good  at  all.  As  to 
building  and  managing  workhouses,  I  look  upon  it  to  be  a 
radical  and  universal  absurdity  to  expect  maintenance  so 
cheap  or  work  so  productive  from  persons  under  coercion 

1  The  scheme  for  subscription  to  the  Friend  was  that  payment  should  be 
made  after  the  twentieth  number. 

2  The  article  by  Wordsworth  was  '  Reply  to  a  letter  by  Mat  betes.' 

3  Coleridge's  Friend  contains  a  most  fantastic  and  exaggerated  eulogy  of 
Sir  A.  Ball,  the  famous  admiral  and  friend  of  Nelson. 


152    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

(I  do  not  quite  venture  the  parallel  of  slave  labour)  as  from 
those  who  are  struggling  to  maintain  themselves,  and  to 
improve  their  condition  in  life.  I  am  surprised  at  myself 
for  having  been  so  long  blind  in  this.  I  do  not  mean 
that  I  was  ever  an  advocate  for  workhouses,  but  I  never 
scouted  them  as  I  ought  always  to  have  done.  True,  I 
never  thought  much  about  the  matter.  I  think  I  could 
make  (or  will  you  say  feign  ?)  a  splendid  representation  of 
what  England  would  have  now  been  uncursed  by  poor 
laws.  You  know  I  do  not  hate  a  thing  by  halves.  Also 
I  begin  to  suspect  that,  from  the  perversity  of  human 
nature,  there  is  quite  as  much  village  learning — now  that 
it  must  be  bought — as  there  would  be  if  it  were  given  gratis. 
Has  not  every  village  a  dame's  school  and  most  villages  a 
writing  master  ?  ' 

The  correspondence  with  Southey  during  this  year 
turned  chiefly  upon  literary  matters.  The  name  of  George 
Burnett  occurs  several  times.  In  February  Rickman  in- 
formed Southey  that  he  had  had  '  two  or  three  begging 
letters  from  that  wretch  Burnett,  but  his  misery  is  so 
entirely  self-acquired,  his  view  of  benefit  from  any  largess 
so  absurd,  and  his  morals  so  shattered,  that  it  is  not  worth 
while  to  pay  for  the  right  of  giving  him  advice.'  In  March 
Burnett  stood  for  the  post  of  assistant  librarian  at  the 
London  Institution,  and  Rickman  wrote  a  commendation 
for  him,  but  in  May  told  Southey  that  he  had  failed  as 
usual  through  his  own  absurdity,  and  now  said  that  he  was 
starving.  Rickman  wished  him.  to  return  to  his  home  at 
Huntspill.  The  following  passage  from  a  letter  to  Southey 
refers  to  the  debate  upon  November  15,  after  the  final 
relapse  of  the  King  into  insanity  and  blindness,  on  the 
question  of  adjournment  for  a  fortnight.  It  appears  from 
the  list  of  the  minority  in  Hansard  that  some  of  the  official 
Opposition,  including  Tierney,  voted  with  Burdett  and  the 
other  Radicals. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    153 

« Nov.  19,  1810. 

1  .  .  .  What  a  stupid  debate  had  we  the  other  night ! 
The  Ho.  Commons  seemed  to  imitate  the  soap-suds  of 
Lord  G.  When  the  King  is  in  health,  the  whole  current 
of  debate  rolls  upon  the  theory,  that  every  act  of  Governmt. 
is  not  the  King's  but  his  Ministers'.  WTien  the  King 
is  ill,  the  State  is  in  danger  from  the  want  of  its  Chief 
Magistrate  even  for  a  fortnight  !  Precious  and  beautiful 
art  of  debating  !  Ponsonby  was  rather  too  late  in  bringing 
down  word  from  the  Ho.  Lords  that  no  division  was  in- 
tended, for  just  before  he  came,  Tierney  (the  usual  watch- 
word of  the  party)  had  given  word  for  a  division.  So  they 
were  oddly  mixed  with  the  Burdetters.  The  Prince  of 
Wales  affects  to  be  a  good  boy  on  this  occasion,  and  this 
I  suppose  curbs  the  Talents  a  little  in  their  indications.' 

The  Regency  Bill  raised  very  high  feelings,  the  limitation 
of  the  Regent's  powers  by  Act  of  Parliament  being  much 
resented  by  the  Prince  of  Wales  and  his  friends.  But 
Perceval  had  the  precedent  of  1788  before  him,  and  was 
able  to  pass  the  bill  as  he  wished  it  in  February  1811. 
The  Opposition  hoped  for  a  change  of  ministry,  and  the 
Whig  Lords  Grenville  and  Grey,  after  private  com- 
munications with  the  Prince,  drafted  a  speech  for  him 
to  deliver  to  an  address  from  both  Houses  preliminary  to 
the  Regency  Bill.  This  draft  displeased  the  Prince,  who 
adopted  another  composed  by  Sheridan.  Grey  and  Grenville 
thereupon  addressed  a  haughty  remonstrance  to  him,  and 
he  decided  to  keep  Perceval  in  office.  This  will  explain  a 
rapturous  letter  from  Rickman  to  Southey. 

'3  February  1811. 

'  So  the  Scoundrels  (as  I  told  you  to  expect)  are  not  to 
be  our  masters  :  Settled  at  Windsor  on  Saturday — and 
yesterday  the  P.  W.  gave  them  their  conge  at  Carlton  Ho. 
Furious  they  are  at  him — and  we  may  sing,  Tantarara  ! 

'  The  P.  W.  was  so  ignorant  of  the  nature  of  the  Govern- 
ment that  he  expected  servants,  and  they  undeceived  him 


154    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

in  the  speech  which  Lords  Gr.  and  Gr.  wrote  for  him  in 
answer  to  the  Resolutions.  Sheridan  swore  he  was  ruined 
for  life,  if  he  insulted  Parliament  in  his  first  intercourse, 
and,  drunk  as  he  was,  wrote  the  answer  finally  sent.  Where- 
upon Lords  Gr.  and  Gr.  sent  in  an  humble  Remonstrance, 
that  they  could  be  of  no  service  to  His  R.  H.  if  he  varied  in 
anything  from  their  advice.  The  P.  W.  then  went  and  tried 
Lord  Holland,  but  he  said  he  was  not  able  to  carry 
majorities  ;  then  the  Prince  returned  to  Gr.  and  Gr.  for  a 
few  days,  but  new  experiments  of  their  humble  advice  dis- 
gusted him  again.     Huzza  for  Old  England  ! 

'  4  Febry. 

'  The  Pangs  of  the  M.  Chronicle  are  delicious. 
'  I  send  a  copy.     Canting  Villain  !  ' 

In  1810  Southey  had  undertaken  to  write  a  yearly  survey 
of  current  events  for  the  Edinburgh  Annual  Register,  and 
he  was  also  reviewing  for  the  Quarterly  a  book  upon  the 
British  army  by  a  Captain  Pasley,  which  he  made  the  peg 
for  a  vigorous  attack  upon  the  Government  generally.  In 
both  of  these  tasks  Rickman  gave  him  invaluable  assistance, 
as  appears  from  the  correspondence.  Not  only  did  he 
collect  and  send  him  all  kinds  of  Parliamentary  papers, 
but  also  frequent  accounts  and  commentaries  written  by 
himself  for  Southey  to  remodel :  their  breezy  character 
may  be  imagined  from  his  asking  Southey  to  allow  for  his 
exasperation  in  seeing  the  '  villains,'  Burdett  and  others, 
so  often.  Among  other  matters  Rickman  discussed  the 
currency  question,  which  attracted  considerable  attention 
during  1810  and  1811. 

Southey  made  such  good  use  of  Rickman's  material  in 
his  review  for  the  Quarterly  that  he  scandalised  Croker  and 
Gifford,  the  editor,  who  refused  to  print  the  article  with- 
out considerable  mutilation.  Southey  was  much  annoyed, 
and  had  thoughts  of  throwing  all  the  material  Rickman 
had  sent  him  into  an  anonymous  pamphlet.  A  letter  of 
Rickman's  makes  some  observations  on  the  incident. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    155 

'  11  April  1811. 

'  I  had  no  idea  that  the  Quarterly  Review  was  ministerial, 
— that  is,  in  avowed  communication  with  them — and  it  is 
entertaining  to  see  Gifford  fathering  an  objection  upon 
them,  instead  of  their  using  such  a  man  for  purposes  of  that 
kind.  It  is  amusing  to  me  who  know  Croker,  to  imagine 
him  sitting  in  judgment  upon  anything  you  or  I  may  say  or 
think.  Not  that  he  is  not  a  sharp  fellow  ;  but  that  it  is 
as  impossible  as  it  is  against  fact  that  a  man  of  Irish  habits, 
till  within  about  two  years,  should  know  anything  of 
English  affairs.  Their  Government  anterior  to  the  Union 
was  rather  municipal  than  national,  the  question  of  taxation 
the  only  one  they  had  to  discuss  in  their  Parliament,  save 
when  they  once  appointed  the  Pr.  of  Wales  Regent.  As  to 
external  policy  they  had  nothing  to  do  with  it,  and  their 
ignorance  of  all  things  necessary  to  it  is  remarkable  beyond 
credulity.  The  commonest  knowledge  of  geography  and 
history  they  really  seem  to  have  abjured  in  a  body,  and 
by  common  consent.  .  .  . 

'  The  Speaker  has  desired  to  enquire  on  behalf  of  some 
friend  of  his,  what  three  months  are  the  best  for  Laking  in 
Cumberland ;  what  the  best  residence  from  whence  to 
wander  occasionally  for  that  purpose,  including  the  con- 
sideration of  being  able  to  hire  a  house  entire,  and  fit  for 
residence  of  a  small  family.  And  whether  the  place  recom- 
mendable  with  their  views,  be  also  a  post  town  ?  Answer 
this  question  or  questions  in  a  separate  note,  that  I  may 
give  it  him  in  original. — Yours,  J.  R. 

'  Of  Burnet — I  understand  he  died  of  a  rapid  decline, 
and  in  an  hospital  where  he  had  due  attention.  I  knew  not 
why  the  thing  was  represented  worse  than  this  ;  and  I  can 
tell  you,  that  the  over-acted  sorrow  of  C.  [Coleridge]  has 
been  very  mischievous.  Would  to  God  he  had  not  come  to 
London.' 

Rickman's    postscript,    referring    to    George    Burnett's 


156    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

miserable  end,  was  in  answer  to  a  passage  in  a  previous 
letter  from  Southey,  in  which  he  said  : — 

1  Your  Greek  tells  me  the  end  of  a  dismal  history.  It 
shocked  me  the  more  because  I  could  not  but  think  it  was 
quite  as  well  for  the  world  that  he  was  out  of  it,  and  better 
for  himself.  Poor  fellow,  in  an  evil  hour  did  he  become 
acquainted  with  me,  and  yet  had  he  always  listened  to  me 
he  might  at  this  day  have  been  a  happy  and  useful  member 
of  society.' 

Burnett  died  early  in  March  in  a  workhouse  infirmary. 
Crabb  Robinson's  diary  has  an  entry  for  March  6  :  '  After 
dinner  called  on  C.  Lamb  ;  heard  from  him  that  Geo. 
Burnett  had  died  wretchedly  in  a  workhouse.  Hazlitt  and 
Coleridge  were  there  and  seemed  sensibly  affected  by  the 
circumstance  '  ;  and  a  commentary  on  Rickman's  reference 
to  Coleridge  is  to  be  found  in  the  entry  for  March  8  :  '  Learnt 
that  Miss  Lamb  had  had  a  renewal  of  her  attack.  H.  [Haz- 
litt] thinks  that  Burnett's  death  occasioned  the  present 
relapse.  .  .  .  H.  thinks  that  poor  Miss  L.  as  well  as  her 
brother  is  injured  by  Coleridge's  presence  in  town,  and 
their  frequent  visits  and  constant  company  at  home  which 
keep  their  minds  in  perpetual  fever.'  Coleridge  was  then 
in  town  negotiating  about  the  delivery  of  a  course  of  lectures, 
and  his  extravagant  lamentations  over  a  ruined  career,  for 
which  he  was  more  to  blame  than  Southey,  were  calculated 
to  upset  a  less  excitable  mind  than  that  of  Mary  Lamb. 
It  is  interesting,  therefore,  to  find  that  he  was  still  on  friendly 
terms  with  Rickman,  and  in  his  confidence  with  regard  to 
Lamb's  convivial  habits,  as  the  following  letter  from  him 
shows : — 

'October  1811. 

'  Dear  Sir, — On  Tuesday  next  Mr.  Morgan  1  and  myself 

will  avail  ourselves  of  your  kind  invitation.     I  was  (and 

am)  in  town  on  the  arrival  of  your  letter.     I  have  this 

moment  received  it.     My  business  has  been  to  bring  about 

1  With  whom  Coleridge  lived  at  Hammersmith. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    157 

a  lecture  Scheme — the  prospectus  of  which  I  shall  be  able 
to  bring  with  me  on  Tuesday.  Re  the  subject  of  dining  with 
Lamb  I  had  a  long  conversation  with  him  yester-evening — 
and  only  blame  myself,  that  having  long  felt  the  deepest  con- 
victions of  the  vital  importance  of  his  not  being  visited  till 
after  8  o'clock  and  then,  too,  rarely  except  on  his  open 
nights,  I  should  yet  have  been  led  to  take  my  friend  M. 
there,  at  dinner,  at  his  proposal,  out  of  a  foolish  delicacy 
in  telling  him  the  plain  truth,  that  it  must  not  be  done. 
I  am  right  glad,  that  something  effective  is  now  done — tho' 
permit  me  to  say  to  you  in  confidence,  that  as  long  as  Hazlitt 
remains  in  town  I  dare  not  expect  any  amendment  in 
Lamb's  health,  unless  luckily  H.  should  grow  moody  and 
take  offence  at  being  desired  not  to  come  till  8  o'clock.  It 
is  seldom  indeed,  that  I  am  with  Lamb  more  than  once  in 
the  week — and  when  at  Hammersmith,  most  often  not  once 
in  a  fortnight,  and  yet  I  see  what  harm  has  been  done 
even  by  me — what  then  if  Hazlitt — as  probably  he  will — 
is  with  him  5  evenings  in  the  seven  ?  Were  it  possible 
to  wean  C.  L.  from  the  pipe,  other  things  would  follow  with 
comparative  ease,  for  till  he  gets  a  pipe,  I  have  regularly 
observed  that  he  is  contented  with  porter — and  that  the 
unconquerable  appetite  for  spirit  comes  in  with  the  tobacco 
— the  oil  of  which  especially  in  the  gluttonous  manner  in 
which  he  volcanizes  it,  acts  as  an  instant  poison  on  his 
stomach  or  lungs. — Believe  me,  dear  Sir,  yours  with  affec- 
tionate Esteem,  S.  T.  Coleridge.' 

During  1812  the  correspondence  between  Southey  and 
Rickman  was  mainly  concerned  with  the  war  and  the  poor 
laws,  on  which  latter  subject  Southey,  instructed  by  Rick- 
man, was  preparing  an  article  for  the  Quarterly.  Another 
subject  was  the  financial  misfortunes  of  William  Taylor  of 
Norwich,  who  had  lost  a  large  sum  of  money,  and  wrote  to 
Rickman  asking  about  a  vacant  post  at  the  Museum. 
Rickman  wrote  him  a  most  sympathetic  letter,  beginning  : 
'  Your  letter  .  .  .  cuts  me  to  the  heart,'  but  was  obliged 
to  announce  that  the  post  had  already  been  filled.     Perhaps 


158    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

the  most  interesting  letter  of  the  year  is  Southey's  descrip- 
tion of  Shelley's  sudden  departure  from  Oxford. 

*  January  6th,  1812.  Keswick. 
* .  .  .  Do  you  know  Shelly  the  member  for  Shoreham  ? 
(not  the  Lewes  Member).  His  eldest  son  is  here  under  curi- 
ous circumstances.  At  Eton  he  wrote  poetry  and  romances, 
went  to  University  College,  and  not  liking  Oxford  society 
amused  himself  with  studying  Hebrew,  metaphysics, 
and  Godwin's  original  quartos.  What  may  become  of  the 
Hebrew  remains  to  be  seen,  what  came  of  the  metaphysics 
was  the  usual  result,  followed  however  by  consequences  not 
quite  so  usual,  for  the  youth  happened  to  have  an  excellent 
heart,  high  moral  principles,  and  enthusiasm  enough  for  a 
martyr.  So  he  prints  half  a  dozen  papers  which  he  entitled 
The  Necessity  of  Atheism,  prefixed  a  short  advertisement 
requesting  that  any  person  who  felt  able  would  publish  a 
reply  to  it  in  the  same  brief  clear  and  methodical  form, 
folded  up  one  of  the  pamphlets  with  this  taking  title,  and 
directed  to  Copplestone.1  Copplestone  either  tracing  the 
handwriting,  or  finding  out  the  author  thro'  the  printer 
(for  he  printed  it  at  Worthing),  sends  the  argument  to  the 
Master  of  University.  He  calls  for  Shelly,  and  asks  if  the 
argument  be  his,  which  the  philosopher  of  course  avows. 
Dr.  Griffiths  then  offers  to  pass  it  over  if  he  will  recant  his 
opinion.  A  Christian  might  do  that,  was  his  reply,  but 
I  cannot.  Expulsion  of  course  followed  instanter. — Away 
goes  Shelly  to  a  graduate  (a  friend  of  Hannah  More's)  whom 
he  had  been  zealously  helping  to  raise  a  subscription  for 
some  protegee,  to  settle  this  business  with  him,  tells  him 
for  what  he  came,  and  that  the  reason  was  that  he  was 
about  to  leave  Oxford  having  just  been  expelled  for  atheism, 
at  which  terrific  word  the  man  absolutely  fainted  away  !  ! 
Poor  Shelly  a  little  astonished  at  finding  himself  possessed 
of  this  sort  of  basilisk  property,  used  his  best  endeavours 
to  recover  him,  lets  him  out  into  the  garden,  and  had  the 
farther  pleasure  of  hearing  himself  addressed,  as  soon  as 

1  The  famous  tutor  of  Oriel ;  afterwards  Bishop  of  Llandaff . 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    159 

the  Evangelist  recovered  his  speech  in  these  charitable 
words,  I  pray  God,  sir,  that  I  may  never  set  eyes  on  you 
again. 

■  Well,  the  story  does  not  end  here.  My  philosopher,  feeling 
how  much  better  he  himself  was  made  by  his  own  philo- 
sophy (which  in  truth  he  was  for  he  would  have  been  burnt 
alive  for  it  as  willingly  as  the  Evangelical  would  have  burnt 
him),  thought  it  incumbent  upon  him  to  extend  the  benefits 
of  his  saving  anti-faith,  and  after  the  examples  of  Mahomet 
and  Taylor  the  Pagan  began  with  his  own  family.  Of  his 
father  and  mother  there  was  no  hope,  but  he  had  a  sister  at 
school  who  was  old  enough  for  an  example.  Accordingly 
he  writes  to  her  upon  this  pleasant  subject.  The  corre- 
spondence is  forbidden,  but  as  she  loved  her  brother  dearly, 
means  are  found  of  carrying  it  on  thro'  a  Miss  Westbrook, 
her  schoolfellow  and  esteemed  friend.  This  is  discovered 
at  last.  Miss  W.  gets  miserably  tormented  (I  believe  the 
school  was  an  Evangelical  one) — becomes  very  unhappy 
in  consequence, — dreads  the  thoughts  of  returning  to  this 
place  of  suffering  after  the  holydays,  and  he  to  deliver  her 
proposes  a  journey  to  Gretna  Green, — he  19  she  17.  His 
father  has  cast  him  off, — but  cannot  cut  off  £6000  a  year, 
tho'  he  may  deprive  him  of  as  much  more, — her's  allow  them 
£200  a  year,  and  here  they  are.  The  D.  of  Norfolk  is  trying 
to  bring  about  a  reconciliation.  I,  liking  him  as  you  may 
suppose  the  better  for  all  this,  am  in  a  fair  way  of  con- 
vincing him  that  he  may  enjoy  £6000  a  year  when  it  comes 
to  him,  with  a  safe  conscience,  that  tho'  things  are  not  as 
good  as  they  will  be  at  some  future  time,  he  has  been  mis- 
taken as  to  the  way  of  making  them  better,  and  that  the 
difference  between  my  own  opinion  and  his  is — that  he  is 
19  and  I  am  8  and  30.  No  other  harm  has  been  done  than 
the  vexation  to  her  from  her  family,  for  as  for  the  early 
marriage  I  consider  that  rather  a  good  than  an  evil,  seeing 
— as  far  as  I  have  yet  seen — that  he  has  chosen  well.  If 
you  know  the  father  well  enough  to  speak  upon  such  a 
subject — endeavour  to  make  him  understand  that  a  few 
years  will  do  everything  for  his  son  which  he  ought  to  wish. 


160    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

He  is  got  to  Pantheism  already,  and  in  a  week  more  I  shall 
find  him  a  Berkeleyan,  for  I  have  put  the  Minute  Philosopher 
at  his  hands.  He  will  get  rid  of  his  eccentricity,  and  he 
will  retain  his  morals,  his  integrity  and  his  genius,  and 
unless  I  am  greatly  deceived  there  is  every  reason  to  believe 
he  will  become  an  honour  to  his  name  and  his  country. 
No  possible  chance  have  thrown  him  in  the  way  of  a  better 
physician,  nor  of  one  who  would  have  taken  a  more  sincere 
interest  in  the  patient. — God  bless  you,  R.  S.' 


On  May  12  the  Prime  Minister,  Perceval,  was  assassinated 
in  the  lobby  of  the  House  by  a  madman  named  Bellingham. 
His  death  broke  up  the  Government,  and  after  fruitless 
negotiations  with  Wellesley  on  the  one  hand,  and  the 
Grenville  party  on  the  other,  the  Regent  entrusted  affairs 
to  Lord  Liverpool,  who  formed  that  Tory  administration 
which  lasted  fifteen  years,  always  harassed,  but  never  dis- 
lodged. Rickman's  letter  to  Southey  upon  Perceval's 
death  is  characteristically  vigorous. 

<  16th  May  1812. 

' .  .  .  What  shall  I  say  of  the  unhappy  event  which  has 
happened  here  ?  I  expected  Mr.  Perceval  to  be  murdered, 
but  I  had  expected  it  from  the  Burdetts,  and  other  vermin 
rendered  infuriate  by  the  weekly  poison  they  imbibe  from 
16  Newspapers  emulous  in  violence  and  mischief.  In 
reading  your  little  book  about  the  rogue  Lancaster,1  I  do 
not  find  that  you  discuss  the  main  question,  whether  the 
mob  can  be  conveniently  taught  reading  while  the  liberty 
of  the  Press  exists  as  at  present.  Every  one  who  reads  at 
all  reads  a  Sunday  newspaper,  not  the  Bible  ;    and  if  any 

1  Joseph  Lancaster  was  a  young  Quaker  who  in  a  pamphlet  drew 
attention  to  the  use  he  had  made  in  a  London  school  of  Dr.  Bell's  Madras 
system  of  mutual  education.  A  dispute  arose  between  him  and  Bell, 
which  became,  in  fact,  a  dispute  between  the  respective  upholders  of  secular 
and  Church  education.  Southey  took  Bell's  side  in  the  Quarterly,  and 
published  his  article  in  1811  as  '  The  Origin,  Nature  and  Object  of  the  New 
System  of  Education.' 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     161 

man  before  doubted  the  efficiency  of  that  prescription,  the 
behaviour  of  the  mob  upon  Mr.  P.'s  death,  may  teach  them 
better  knowledge.  The  assassin's  is  really  a  respectable 
character  (doing  a  strong  deed,  upon  what  appeared  to  him 
a  great  injury)  compared  to  those  who,  when  the  horrid 
deed  was  done,  applauded  it,  and  collected  here  to  encourage 
and  rescue  the  assassin,  who  was  necessarily  conveyed  away 
through  the  Speaker's  House  to  avoid  them.  At  Notting- 
ham the  temper  was  yet  worse.  Poor  Perceval  breathed 
his  last  on  the  green  table  in  my  Ho.  Commons  Room,  which 
you  may  remember  : — but  I  was  at  home,  and  saw  none 
of  the  tragedy.  After  he  was  shot  he  walked  on  but  6  or 
7  steps,  as  if  unconscious,  and  so  much  in  his  usual  gait 
as  to  be  recognised  by  it  through  the  crowd,  when  he 
approached  the  door  of  the  Ho.  Commons,  he  struck  both 
his  hands  upon  his  breast,  and  fell  prostrate.  Who  the 
Administration  are  to  be,  nobody  knows  ;  I  hope  the  Oppo- 
sition will  not  profit  by  the  murder.  Their  Morng.  Chron. 
distant  apologies  speak  as  if  consciously  of  having  instigated 
more  mischief  than  they  now  think  may  be  convenient  to 
any  future  Ministry,  even  to  themselves.  Rascals  !  Who 
never  thought  but  of  their  disappointed  ambition  ;  and 
would  overthrow  England,  if  they  cannot  govern  England. 
'  Lord  Wellesley  and  Canning  would  probably  be  the  best 
Administration  ;  but  if  the  present  men  can  get  a  Debate 
in  Ho.  Commons  they  mean  it  is  said  to  recollect  the 
Dionysian  policy  of  not  stirring  till  dragged  out  by  the  heels. 
Poor  Perceval  used  very  unfairly  to  be  forced  to  speak  for 
all  the  departments  of  the  Government.  He  has  rest  from 
his  labours, — and  you  and  I,  and  England,  and  Spain,  and 
Europe  still  have  cause  to  rue  his  death  !  ' 

The  only  other  letter  of  interest  for  1812  is  one  from 
Coleridge. 

« Friday,  17  July  1812. 

'  My  dear  Sir, — I  well  know,  how  little  time  you  have 
to  throw  away — and  Mr.  Morgan  and  myself  have  therefore 

L 


162    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

long  struggled  with  the  desire  of  inducing  you  to  dine  and 
spend  the  evening  with  us,  and  one  or  two  intelligent  friends 
at  71,  Berner's  Street.  But  Mr.  Morgan  has  requested  me 
to  ask  you,  whether  it  is  in  your  power  or  plan  of  time  to 
mention  any  day  in  the  next  week,  or  the  week  after,  which 
you  can  afford  and  if  there  were  any  chance  of  Mrs.  Rick- 
man  and  your  sister's  favouring  us,  Mrs.  Morgan  would 
not  only  be  most  happy  to  see  them,  but  would  previously 
call  on  Mrs.  R.  to  make  a  personal  invitation. 

'  In  whatever  part  of  Christendom  a  genuine  philosopher 
in  Political  Economy  shall  arise,  and  establish  a  system, 
including  the  laws  and  the  disturbing  forces  of  that  mira- 
culous machine  of  living  Creatures,  a  Body  Politic,  he  will 
have  been  in  no  small  measure  indebted  to  you  for  authentic 
and  well  guarded  documents.  The  Prel.  Obserw.1  inter- 
ested me  much  in  and  for  themselves — and  as  grounds 
or  hints  for  manifold  reflections  they  were  at  least  equally 
valuable.  I  am  about  to  put  to  the  press  a  second  volume 
of  The  Friend,  and  in  all  points  but  one,  treated  of  in  the 
work  I  seem  to  myself  to  be  in  broad  daylight,  but  in  that 
one,  perplexed  and  darkling  and  dissatisfied.  The  subject 
is  the  constitution  of  our  Country  and  the  expediency  ? 
and  (if  expedient)  the  practicability  ?  of  an  improvement 
(for  Reform  is  either  a  misnomer  or  a  lie  to  all  our  history) 
of  the  House  of  Commons.  A  series  of  weak  Ministries  ; 
the  strange  co-existence  of  little  knots  and  sub-parties  in 
the  legislature  ;  the  strength  of  the  stronger  party  to  do 
harm  and  its  weakness  to  effect,  even  what  they  themselves 
consider,  good,  upon  any  system  ;  and  above  all,  the  rapid 
increase  both  of  inorganised  and  of  self-organising  *  power 
of  action  throughout  the  kingdom  ;  make  a  deep  impres- 
sion on  me  as  far  as  the  wish  for  some  improvement  goes, 
while  the  general  laxness  and  almost  flaccidity  of  intellectual 
manhood,   the  scarcity  of  true  virile  productive  strong- 

'  *  Wens,  Hydatids  etc.,  under  the  name  of  Societies,  Committees, 
Associations  etc'     [Coleridge's  note. J 


i.e.  to  the  census  returns  for  1811. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    163 

sense,  renders  me  despondent  even  as  to  the  formation  in 
Parliament  of  any  grand  outline.  Where  shall  we  find  500 
better  ? — or  if  I  reply — the  very  same  men  would  be  better 
if  sent  into  Parliament  by  better  means,  then  comes  the 
yet  harder  question — What  are  the  means  which,  effect- 
ing this  one  end,  would  not  at  the  same  time  reduce  the 
Peerage  of  the  Realm  to  a  puppet  shew,  and  the  Ministers 
of  the  Crown  to  a  Committee  of  Public  Safety  reporting 
to  the  National  Convention  ?  If  I  have  been  rightly  in- 
formed, there  never  was  a  House  of  Commons  that  contained 
so  large  a  number  of  men  without  estates  or  known  pro- 
perty as  the  present.  Most  certainly  there  never  was  one 
so  cowardly  plebicolar.  I  fear,  I  fear,  that  it  is  a  hopeless 
business  and  will  continue  so  till  some  fortunate  Grant- 
mind  starts  up  and  revolutionises  all  the  present  notions 
concerning  the  education  of  both  gentry  and  middle  classes. 
While  this  remains  in  statu  quo,  I  expect  that  good  Dr. 
Bell's  Scheme  1  carried  into  full  effect  by  the  higher  classes 
may  suggest  to  a  thinking  man  the  image  of  the  Irishman 
on  the  bough  with  his  face  toward  the  trunk  sawing  himself 
off. — Excuse  my  garrulity  and  believe  me,  my  dear  sir, 
your's  with  affectionate  Respect,  S.  T.  Coleridge.' 

.  The  first  letter  of  1813  is  from  Coleridge,  describing  the 
rehearsals  of  his  tragedy  '  Remorse.'  In  1797  he  had 
written  a  tragedy,  called  '  Osorio,'  at  Sheridan's  request, 
but  it  had  been  rejected  on  the  ground  of  obscurity.     In 

1812,  through  the  influence  of  Lord  Byron,  this  play, 
rewritten  under  the  title  of  '  Remorse/  was  accepted  by  the 
Drury  Lane  Committee.     It  was  produced  on  January  23, 

1813,  with  great  success,  and  ran  for  twenty  nights.  From 
the  receipts  Coleridge  received  £400,  besides  his  profits 
from  the  sale  of  a  published  edition.  It  will  be  seen  from 
the  letter  that  Rickman  had  offered  some  judicious  criticisms 
which  were  accepted.  The  prologue  to  which  Coleridge 
refers  was  by  Charles  Lamb,  while  the  epilogue  was  by 
himself. 

1  See  note  to  p.  160. 


164    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

1  Monday  night,  25  January  1813. 

'  My  dear  Sir, — Having  stayed  at  home  this  evening 
from  that  persecuting  stomach  and  bowel  faintness  of  mine, 
and  alone  too  (a  delightful  feeling  now  and  then,  even 
when  those,  who  are  for  a  few  hours  absent,  are  dearly 
loved),  for  Morgan,  and  the  women,  both  parlourtry  and 
kitchentry,  are  at  the  theatre,  I  have  time  to  thank  you 
for  your  kind  gratulation,  and  still  more  for  your  remarks, 
the  greater  part  of  which  coincided  with  my  own  previous 
judgments,  and  the  rest  produced  instant  conviction.  All 
were  acted  upon  this  morning,  except  that  I  could  not 
persuade  either  actor  or  manager  to  give  up  Isidore's 
description  of  Alvar's  Cottage  and  the  Dell,  and  in  truth 
it  was  somewhat  odd,  as  the  world  goes,  to  have  the  writer 
pleading  strenuously  for  more  and  more  excisions,  and  the 
actor  (and  in  one  or  two  instances  the  manager)  arguing 
for  their  retention.  Indeed  it  has  been  so  far  from  escaping 
notice,  that  Arnold  *  and  Raymond,2  I  hear,  have  given  me 
the  name  of  "  The  Amenable  Author.'"  But  then  with  Sir 
Fretful  Plagiary  in  The  Critic  "  I  will  print  every  word  of 
it."  Tho'  that  is  not  true  either,  for  many  of  the  omis- 
sions have  improved  the  piece  no  less  as  a  dramatic  poem 
than  as  an  acting  tragedy. 

'  By  the  bye,  that  most  beastly  assassination  of  Ordonio 
by  the  Moor,  that  lowest  depth  of  the  fucrnreov,  was  so 
far  from  being  a  deed  of  mine,  that  I  saw  it  perpetrated 
for  the  first  time  on  Saturday  night.  I  absolutely  had 
the  hiss  half  way  out  of  my  lips  and  retracted  it.  .  .  . 
It  is,  perhaps,  almost  the  only  case  in  which  scenic  life 
is  the  same  as  real  life.  We  can  as  little  endure  the 
imitation  of  absolute  baseness,  as  we  can  its  reality.  It 
is  now  altered,  or  rather  reformed  to  my  original  purpose 
and  so  as  to  obviate  your  very  just  objection  to  Alhadra's 
Sneak-Exit.  After  the  words  "  These  little  ones  will  crowd 
around  and  ask  me — Where  is  our  Father  ?  I  shall  curse 
thee  then  !  !  !  !  "  the  cry  of  rescue  "  Alvar  !  Alvar !  "  and 

1  Manager  of  Drury  Lane.  2  Stage-manager. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  HICKMAN    165 

the  voice  of  Valdez,  is  heard  from  behind  the  scenes — and 
Alhadra  with  these  words — 

"Ha!  a  rescue  ! — and  Isidore  un-revenged  ! 
The  deed  be  mine  !     (Stabs  Ordonio.) 
Now  take  my  life  ! 
Alvar.  Arm  of  avenging  Heaven  !  etc."  1 

'  I  had  never  once  attended  the  rehearsal  of  the  last 
act,  the  bowel-griping  cold  from  the  stage  floor  and  weari- 
ness from  cutting  blocks  with  a  razor  having  always  sent 
me  packing  homeward  before  the  conclusion  of  the  fourth. 
They  attempted  to  justify  it  by  the  death  of  Coriolanus  ; 
but  in  the  first  place  Shakespear  is  borne  out  by  the  historical 
fact,  in  the  second  place  the  mode  of  the  murder  (in  Shake- 
spear at  least,  for  I  never  saw  it  acted)  is  quite  different ; 
and  lastly,  in  Morgan's  copy  of  Shakepear's  works  I  had 
some  three  weeks  ago  expressed  my  incapability  of  explain- 
ing the  character  of  Titus  Aufidius  consistently  with  the 
re-creating  psychologic  (if  not  omni-,  yet)  hominiscience 
of  "  The  Myriad-minded  "  Bard.  This,  my  only  word  in  it, 
puts  me  in  mind  of  the  Prologue,  of  which  I  have  yet 
nothing  to  say  in  addition  to  your  remarks.  I  am  a  miser- 
able coward  when  pain  is  to  be  given — I  hesitated  and 
hesitated,  till  (had  I  even  plucked  up  fortitude  enough  to 
have  declined  it)  I  had  no  longer  time  to  substitute  a  better. 
It  is  hard  to  say  which  was  worse,  Prologue  or  Epilogue, 
videlicet,    as    Prologue    and    Epilogue    to    this    particular 

1  The  passage  ran  as  follows  in  the  published  edition  : — 

'  Alhadra.  Those  little  ones  will  crowd  around  and  ask  me, 

Where  is  our  father  ?     I  shall  curse  thee  then  ! 

Wert  thou  in  heaven,  my  curse  should  pluck  thee  thence  ! 
Teresa.  He  doth  repent  !     See,  see,  I  kneel  to  thee  ! 

O  let  him  live  !  that  aged  man,  his  father 

Alhadra.  Why  had  he  such  a  son  ? 

[Shouts  from  the  distance  of,  Rescue  !  Rescue  !  Alvar  !  Alvar  !  and  the 

voice  of  Valdez  heard. 

Rescue  ? — and  Isidore's  spirit  unavenged  ? — 

The  deed  be  mine  !  [Suddenly  stabs  Ordonio. 

Now  take  my  life. 
Ordonio  (staggering  from  the  wound).  Atonement ! 
Alvar.  Arm  of  avenging  heaven,  etc' 


166    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

Tragedy.  Only  the  Prologue,  because  it  was  Pro,  did 
harm,  and  the  Epi  no  good.  However,  I  shall  begin  to 
brave  Nemesis  by  a  full  joy,  if  all  go  off  as  well  to-night  as 
it  did  on  Saturday.  With  best  respects  to  Mrs.  Rickman 
and  to  your  sister  I  am,  my  dear  Sir,  with  unfeigned 
esteem  and  regard,  your  S.  T.  Coleridge. 

'  P.S.  If  it  would  amuse  Mrs.  R.,  Miss  R.,  or  you  deem 
it  right  to  let  little  Anne  see  the  Pantomime  at  so  early 
an  age,  I  have  half  a  dozen  box  tickets  at  their  service  for 
any  day  of  this  or  the  next  week,  should  "  The  Remorse  "  run 
so  long.  I  have  not  yet  read  what  the  remorseless  critics 
of  the  "  ano  abstersurae  Chartae  "  say  of  the  play,  but  I 
know  that  Hazlitt  in  the  M[orning]  C[hronicle]  has  sneered 
at  my  presumptions  in  entering  the  Lists  with  Shakespear's 
Hamlet  in  Teresa's  description  of  the  two  brothers  :  when 
(so  help  me  the  Muses)  that  passage  never  once  occurred 
to  my  conscious  recollection,  however  it  may,  unknown 
to  myself,  have  been  the  working  idea  within  me.  But 
mercy  on  us  !  Is  there  no  such  thing  as  two  men's  having 
similar  thoughts  on  similar  occasions  ?  To  all  poetry 
primaeval  revelation,  as  I  have  sometimes  laughingly 
asserted  of  good  jests,  that  the  very  same,  mutatis  para- 
phemalibus,  are  to  be  found  in  all  languages,  and  were 
revealed  for  the  amusement  of  Noah  and  his  household 
during  their  year-long  see-saw  on  the  5  mile  deep  inunda- 
tion, which  accounts  for  every  phenomenon  in  geology,  only 
not  for  that  miraculous  olive  tree,  the  leaf  from  which 
the  tame  pigeon  (pigeon  or  raven)  brought  back  to  the 
Jewish  Ogyges.  This  woundy  long  letter  will,  I  fear, 
remind  you  of  another  over  copious  correspondent — but  it 
is  one  advantage  (postage  out  of  the  question)  that  letters 
have  over  conversation,  that  a  man  may  shut  his  eyes, 
but  has  no  ear-lids,  and  may  burn  an  epistle,  when  neither 
to  that  or  to  other  more  economic  uses,  he  would  or  could 
employ  a  talker/ 

In   1813  Southey  was  working  on  his  famous  Life  of 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    167 

Nelson,  which  was  one  of  the  chief  subjects  of  correspondence 
with  Rickman,  whom  he  informed  that  he  was  to  have  £105 
for  the  first  edition.  Other  details  mentioned  in  the 
letters  were  the  death  of  George  Fricker,  Southey's 
brother-in-law,  from  consumption,  the  finding  of  a  man 
hanged  in  Coleridge's  shirt,  and  the  phenomenon  of  a 
horsehair  turning  into  a  worm  when  left  in  water,  by 
the  accretion  or  growth  of  animalculse.  This  scientific 
wonder  was  discussed  by  the  two  friends  with  the  keenest 
interest,  and  in  one  letter  Rickman  devoted  two  pages  to  it. 
After  the  battle  of  Vittoria  had  been  fought,  Rickman  sent 
Southey  a  plan  of  it  drawn  by  himself.  Southey's  article 
on  the  poor  appeared  in  the  Quarterly  for  December  1812, 
and  as  it  was  a  violent  attack  upon  Malthus,  it  was  after 
Rickman's  own  heart.  The  letter  of  March  12  gives  his 
comments  thereupon.  A  brief  word  is  necessary  upon  the 
other  matters  mentioned  by  Rickman.  In  the  new 
Parliament  of  1813  the  affairs  of  the  East  India  Company 
occupied  a  great  deal  of  attention.  The  whole  House  sat 
in  committee  on  the  subject,  and  an  act  was  finally  passed 
renewing  its  charter  and  confirming  its  privileges,  but 
with  great  restrictions.  From  April  10,  1814,  the  India 
trade  was  thrown  open,  and  the  charter  made  terminable 
on  three  years'  notice  after  1831.  A  committee  was  also 
appointed,  on  Grattan's  motion,  to  consider  the  claims  of 
the  Roman  Catholics,  but  no  bill  was  passed.  The  Princess 
of  Wales  sent  a  letter  to  Parliament  at  the  beginning  of 
March  complaining  of  certain  proceedings  of  the  Privy 
Council.  Brougham,  who  entered  Parliament  in  1810, 
was  her  adviser  till  her  unfortunate  attempt  to  be  present 
at  the  Coronation  in  1821. 

« 12  March  1813. 

'  .  .  .  I  have  read  your  article  on  the  poor  with  good 
satisfaction,  for  the  abundance  of  wit  it  contains,  and  the 
general  truth  of  its  statements  and  reflections.  With  some 
things  you  know  I  do  not  agree,  for  instance  not  in  your 
dislike  of  manufactures  to  the  same  degree,  especially  I 


168    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

do  not  find  them  guilty  of  increasing  the  poor.  For  instance, 
no  county  is  more  purely  agricultural  than  Sussex  (as  I 
perfectly  know)  where  28  persons,  parents  and  children, 
in  100,  receive  parish  relief  :  no  county  more  clearly  to  be 
referred  to  the  manufacturing  character  than  Lancaster, 
where  the  persons  relieved  by  the  parish  are  7  in  100 — not 
a  third  part  of  the  agricultural  poverty.  An  explanation  of 
this,  not  in  a  letter,  will  perhaps  lead  you  to  different 
views  of  the  poor-rate  plan  of  relief,  which  in  agricultural 
counties  operates  as  a  mode  of  equalising  wages  according 
to  the  number  of  mouths  in  a  family  :  so  that  the  single 
man  receives  much  less  than  his  labour  is  worth,  the 
married  man  much  more.  I  do  not  approve  of  this,  nor  of 
the  poor  laws  at  all ;  but  it  is  a  view  of  the  matter  which 
in  your  opinion  (more  perhaps  than  in  mine)  may  lessen 
the  amount  of  their  mischief. 

'  Of  these  things  and  others  we  may  talk  in  May  ;  but  I 
am  afraid  nothing  will  settle  my  mind  about  your  wide 
education  plan, — a  great  good,  or  a  great  evil,  certainly,  but 
which,  I  am  not  sure,  while  the  liberty  of  the  Press 
remains.  I  believe  that  more  seditious  newspapers  than 
Bibles  will  be  in  use  among  your  pupils. 

'  We  are  going  on  badly  in  the  Ho.  Commons, — the 
contemptible  state  of  the  Administration,  and  the  more  con- 
temptible state  of  the  Opposition  is,  taken  together,  very 
odd.  The  Ministry  consider  nothing  forsooth  as  a  Cabinet 
Question ;  that  is,  they  have  no  opinion  collectively.  I 
cannot  imagine  any  thing  in  history  more  pitifull  than  their 
junction  and  alliance  with  the  high  and  mighty  mob  against 
the  E.  India  Company,  an  establishment  second  only,  if 
second,  to  the  English  Government  in  importance  to  man- 
kind. As  to  the  Catholics,  they  will  gain  little  from  the 
Ho.  Commons,  and  nothing  from  the  Lords  ;  and  the  issue 
of  the  attempt  I  hope  will  be  to  place  the  Catholic  orators 
in  no  pleasant  situation,  and  to  open  the  eyes  of  the  rest 
of  the  world  as  to  the  placable  conciliating  disposition  of 
the  Irish  Catholics  and  rebels. 

1  The  Princess  of  Wales,  the  most  shameless  of  her  sex, 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     169 

seems  determined  to  push  her  case  into  public  discussion, 
and  as  the  days  of  beheading  are  past,  I  suppose  we  shall 
in  due  have  an  Act  of  Attainder  to  send  her  into  durance, 
or  out  of  England  :  I  care  not  which.  Brougham  allows 
himself  to  be  her  adviser  generally  ;  but  not  of  her  late 
letters.  I  believe  however  he  wrote  the  first  half  of  the 
first  letter,  which  he  thus  disowns  because  nobody  thinks 
well  of  it.  It  is  whimsical  to  see  the  natural  attraction 
between  B.  and  Her  R.  H.  The  two  persons  eminently 
farthest  removed  from  bashfulness  in  this  realm.  But  I 
think  Jupiter  may  stultify  more  extensively  than  he  has 
done  before  we  are  overset.  Besides  if  chance  is  some- 
times against  us,  it  is  sometimes  for  us.  Witness  the  stupid 
presumption  of  the  Gre  Gres  1  a  year  ago.  Their  refusal 
of  power  which,  misdirected  as  it  was  in  1806,  would  have 
dispirited  Russia  into  peace  and  subjection  when  Alexander 
was  wavering,  and  have  altered  the  whole  destiny  perhaps 
of  Europe  for  ages  to  come.  .  .  .' 

Later  in  the  year  comes  a  letter  from  Rickman  which 
shows  how  fearless  and  sensible  he  was  in  giving  literary 
advice  to  Southey,  whose  revulsion  of  feeling  since  his 
revolutionary  ardours  led  him  to  use  exaggerated  language 
in  praise  of  those  who  withstood  Napoleon,  and,  as  we  shall 
see,  in  execration  of  Napoleon  himself. 

*  20  November  1813.2 

'  .  .  .  I  have  not  read  any  of  your  annual  Regr.  very 
lately,  but  I  remember  some  of  my  former  mental  criticisms 
upon  it,  which  I  know  you  will  have  no  objection  to  hear  ; 
be  they  right  or  wrong,  valuable  or  worthless. 

'  In  the  first  place,  I  who  yet  am  no  Puritan,  can  never 
read  sacred  epithets  applied  to  human  actions  without  a 
little  shuddering  ;   involuntarily  I  believe  I  refer  all  political 

1  The  name  Rickman  and  Southey  used  to  designate  the  Grenville  and 
Grey  party.  The  conditions  they  sought  to  impose  upon  the  Regent  in 
1812  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  give  them  office. 

8  In  Selections  from  the  Letters  of  R.  S.,  ii.  337  sq.,  extracts  from  this 
letter  and  Southey's  answer  are  given. 


170    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

feelings  to  morality  (high  or  low  as  the  case  may  be)  never 
to  religion.  Thus  I  would  dignify  the  obstinate  resistance 
of  the  Spaniards  by  any  epithets  denoting  the  steadfastness 
of  their  patriotism,  and  their  heroic  suffering  ;  but  I  do 
not  class  this  kind  of  merit,  nor  any  not  of  Gospel  creation, 
as  holy  or  righteous  :  two  words  which  I  seem  to  remember 
often  in  your  historical  style.  The  founder  of  our  national 
religion  said  his  Kingdom  was  not  of  this  world,  and  his 
Quaker  precepts  are  utterly  incompatible  with  national 
existence,  if  literally  followed.  If  you  would  drop  all 
religious  epithets,  you  may  be  sure  your  style  will  still  have 
strength  enough  left ;  and  there  is  another  branch  of  the 
same  question,  which  may  best  be  prefaced  by  asking, 
do  you  approve  of  the  annual  Church  fasts  and  occasional 
thanksgivings  in  war  time  ?  I  confess  I  do  not,  thinking 
either  that  the  God  of  all  may  not  much  prefer  one  nation 
of  his  creatures  before  another,  or  that  it  is  impertinent  to 
offer  our  opinions  or  wishes  to  him,  in  his  government  of 
mankind.  Here  we  come  to  the  large  question  of  a 
particular  providence  or  not.  I  happen  to  believe  that  the 
Creator  constituted  the  earth  and  all  creatures  in  it  in  the 
best  manner  for  their  well  being  ;  but  that  he  interferes 
no  farther  ;  careless  (so  to  speak)  of  the  individual,  even 
sometimes  of  a  whole  species  of  animals  (the  mammoth  for 
example),  careful  only  to  insure  general  results.  The  old  in- 
stance of  the  weather  as  well  as  any  other  may  serve  to  refute 
the  notion  of  a  particular  providence.  We  see  often  enough 
that  "  He  maketh  the  rain  to  fall  on  the  just  and  on  the 
unjust."  The  hitherto  prosperity  of  the  devastator  of 
Europe  is  quite  as  strong  an  instance,  and  if  he  should  now 
be  destroyed  particular  providence  could  not  be  the  less 
disgraced  in  the  mischief  he  has  been  suffered  to  do.  I  do 
not  mean  by  this  that  the  disbelief  of  a  particular  providence 
is  to  be  professed  ;  but  I  think  it  should  be  the  esoteric 
belief  of  an  historian. 

'  In  another  view  of  the  same  subject,  we  ought  not  to 
forget,  that  however  severe  the  process  of  conquest,  without 
it,  the  world  could  never  have  been  civilised.     The  little 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    171 

petty  tribes,  created  by  family  connection,  would  still  have 
wandered  over  the  earth  incapable  of  any  acquirement 
beyond  rude  subsistence.  The  consolidation  of  large 
kingdoms  mainly  results  from  the  successes  of  some 
conqueror,  and  we  must  suffer  the  end  to  sanctify  the 
means.  In  my  creed  this  is  universally  true  in  politics  ; 
as  universally  as  it  is  untrue  and  unallowable  in  private 
conduct.  Doubtless  some  conquests  have  introduced 
slavery  and  barbarism,  and  I  mourn  such  instances  ;  but 
the  Corsican  Adventurer  (for  his  own  purposes  indeed)  by 
loosening  all  attachment  to  reigning  families  and  by  con- 
founding territorial  limits  in  Germany,  has  taken  the  only 
practicable  mode  of  the  resuscitation  of  that  people  of 
mighty  name,  but  for  many  centuries  of  feeble  means,  for 
want  of  some  such  sweeping  generalising  conqueror  as  the 
man  they  are  now  roused  to  resist.  Even  Italy,  and  perhaps 
Switzerland,  has  profited  in  this  way,  and,  the  renovation 
of  Europe  accomplished,  we  shall  have  to  own  that  no  less 
severe  a  visitation  could  have  sufficiently  loosened  ancient 
privileges  and  prejudices.  This  you  see  is  a  further 
argument  against  any  particular  providence  in  this  or  that 
battle  or  accident  favourable  to  Spain  or  England ;  and, 
though  I  allow  Bonaparte  no  more  merit  in  the  final  good 
which  he  may  do,  than  Judas  Iscariot  on  another  occasion, 
yet  I  would  have  the  tone  of  a  serious  history  restrained 
by  such  considerations,  and  when  holding  out  for  worthy 
imitation  the  deeds  of  patriots  and  of  heroes. 

'  You  know  very  well  how  far  I  am  from  the  sickly 
liberality,  which  seems  likely  to  blight  every  noble  motive 
of  action,  and  which  has  grown  to  such  a  pitch,  that  it  is 
almost  forgotten  of  ancient  selfishness,  that  all  the  things 
which  we  valued  most  in  the  world  have  sprung  and  must 
for  ever  spring  from  that  aboriginal  but  disgraced  quality. 
A  book  which  should  settle  the  just  points  between  selfishness 
and  liberality  would  be  a  grand  performance,  though  I 
suppose  the  author  would  be  abused  for  a  Mandevilian. 

'  Thus  much  have  I  scribbled  in  a  winter  evening. 
Fruere  ut  libet.  .  .  .' 


172    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 
Southey  replied  on  November  30. 

'  Thank  you  for  your  letter.  It  cautions  me  well  against 
the  indiscreet  use  of  words  which  ought  to  be  reserved  for 
great  occasions,  and  I  do  not  discover  that  we  differ  in 
opinion  when  we  understand  each  other.  I  see  as  you  do, 
and  surely  have  often  expressed,  that  the  whirlwind  of 
the  Revolution  was  necessary  to  clear  away  the  pestilence 
of  the  old  governments,  and  think  as  you  do  that  in  the 
moral  government  of  the  world  and  of  the  universe  general 
results  are  those  which  are  contemplated,  and  that  to  these, 
individuals,  species,  and  nations  will  sometimes  be  sacrificed. 
The  belief  that  Good  is  stronger  than  Evil  sets  all  right 
upon  the  great  scale,  and  all  is  set  right  for  individuals 
also  in  a  future  state.  Certainly  I  do  not  believe  that  God 
can  prefer  one  nation  to  another.  But  in  cases  like  the  old 
Dutch  war  against  Spain,  and  the  present  struggle  against 
Bonaparte,  the  struggle  is  between  good  and  evil,  and  the 
contest  is  actually  what  the  Crusades  were  only  erroneously 
called — a  Holy  War.  However  I  shall  be  sparing  of  such 
epithets.' 

At  the  end  of  the  year  the  Poet  Laureateship  fell  vacant. 
The  post  was  offered  to  Sir  Walter  Scott,  who  retired  in 
favour  of  Southey.  The  new  Laureate's  first  work  was 
to  write  an  ode  upon  the  war,  which  he  sent  to  Rickman 
in  manuscript  with  the  following  letter : — 

'  December  8,  1813. 

'  Verses  which  are  to  be  printed  have  a  certain  flavour  in 
manuscript  analogous  to  the  sweetness  of  stolen  water,  and 
the  pleasantness  of  bread  eaten  in  secret, — a  pleasantness, 
by  the  bye,  which  I  do  not  understand,  having  no  taste  for 
a  crust  in  a  corner,  nor  for  dry  bread  at  any  time.  Mrs.  R 
may  peradventure  like  to  cast  her  eye  over  the  Laureate's 
first  performance.  I  send  it  therefore  unwafered.  When 
she  has  read  it,  consign  it  to  the  twopenny  post,  that  it  may 
find  its  way  to  the  Row.1  .  .  . 

1  i.e.  Paternoster  Row,  where  Longmans'  office  was  and  is. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    173 

'  If  you  ask  me  why  I  call  it  Carmen  Annuum — not  in 
imitation  of  Carmen  Seculare  (which  however  justifies  the 
title)  but  because  I  can  hit  upon  no  suitable  English  appel- 
lation. An  Ode  it  is  not,  because  of  its  length  :  so  at  least 
I  think,  and  Carmen  is  a  general  word. 

'  My  next  appearance  in  my  new  character  will  be  with 
a  series  of  Inscriptions  upon  the  event  of  the  peninsular 
war,  as  far  as  the  British  Army  has  been  concerned. — God 
bless  you,  R.  S.' 

Southey's  poem,  however,  seemed  to  the  judicious  Rick- 
man  too  truculent  for  an  official  effusion,  and  he  replied  with 
a  long  letter  of  general  criticism  from  which  I  take  these 
extracts  : — 

' .  .  .  I  am  not  sure  you  do  not  forget  that  office  imposes 
upon  a  man  many  restraints  besides  the  one-day  Bag  and 
Sword  at  Carlton  House.  Put  the  case,  that  through  the 
mediation  of  Austria  we  make  peace  with  Bonaparte,  and 
he  becomes  in  course  a  friendly  Power — can  you  stay  in 
office,  this  Carmen  remaining  on  record  ?  I  would  say 
more  with  this  view  of  the  matter,  did  I  not  suppose  that 
before  the  Carmen  is  publicly  seen,  Mr.  Croker  will  see  it, 
andhecan  jud-^e  the  degree  of  official  reserve  necessary.  .  .  . 
In  reading  this  I  see  that  the  stanzas  which  mention  France 
and  the  French  Emperor  in  so  truculent  a  manner  are  not 
so  many  but  that  the  Carmen  might  be  long  enough  without 
them,  if  by  Mr.  Croker's  judgment  to  be  in  prudence  omitted. 
I  confess  I  should  be  very  sorry  that  you  should  print 
without  his  approbation  of  them  ;  for  as  Laureat  official, 
I  think  you  should  .  .  .  identify  yourself  very  much  with 
the  government.  Be  as  ample  in  praise  as  you  please,  but 
do  not  treat  an  enemy  as  though  never  to  become  a  friend. 
If  you  did  not  know  me  for  as  desperate  an  antigallican  as 
yourself  (I  wish  the  French  one  neck  and  a  hatchet  in  my 
hand)  I  should  not  have  spoken  so  freely  of  official  reserve 
towards  them  :  but  I  know  you  will  take  all  in  good  part. 

'  I  assure  you  I  only  dread  your  being  superseded  in 
your  office,  whenever  a  small  sacrifice  may  in  the  chance  of 


174    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

events  be  to  be  made  to  Bonaparte  and  the  vile  Whigs.  .  .  . 
As  to  the  Whigs,  it  will  be  said,  whatever  they  deserve,  yet 
not  rebuke  from  your  hand,  who  apparently  received  favour  1 
from  their  Administration.  I  grant  you  it  was  only  apparent, 
but  as  you  could  not  give  the  explanation,  you  could  not 
repel  the  charge  of  ingratitude,  which  will  be  made  if  you 
lacerate  them  too  cruelly.' 

This  letter  was  followed  by  another  enclosing  some  proofs. 

<  15  December  1813. 

'  Too  late  for  post  time  to-day,  was  brought  a  proof  of 
the  Carm.  Ann.,  about  half  of  it.  I  inclose  it ;  also  a  letter 
from  your  brother. 

'  I  don't  think  that  I  have  anything  to  add  to  what  I  said 
before.  .  .  . 

'  If  you  choose  to  call  Bonaparte  a  tyrant,  you  will  say 
Hiero  was  called  so  :  but  the  assassination  finale  you  must 
not  venture  on.  Indeed  the  stories  you  bring  in  aid  of  your 
exhortation,  are  not  well  authenticated.  Toussaint's  and 
Capt.  Wright's  tortures  I  believe,  but  do  not  know.  Piche- 
gru's  murder  I  do  not  believe  in  any  further  than  that  he 
murdered  himself.  The  D.  of  Enghien  you  ruist  remember 
chose  to  station  himself  close  to  France  to  foment  disturb- 
ances ;  and  as  to  all  Governments,  good  or  bad,  the  right  of 
self-preservation  indefeasibly  pertains,  I  am  not  sure  that  he 
was  ill-used.  I  know  I  would  willingly  do  the  same  favour 
by  torchlight  or  day-light  could  he  be  seized  in  Ireland  and 
brought  here  for  that  good  purpose.  Palm  and  Hofer  I 
grant  you  were  bad  and  notoriously  bad  affairs.' 

The  good  advice  of  Rickman  and  Croker  was  taken  by 
Southey,  who  cut  out  the  dangerous  passages,  and  published 
the  poem  next  year  as  '  An  Ode  written  during  the  Negotia- 
tions with  Bonaparte  in  January,  1814.' 

During  1814  and  1815  the  correspondence  between  Rick- 
man and  Southey  turned  chiefly  upon  political  affairs  and 

1  A  small  pension  was  given  to  Southey  in  1806. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    175 

Southey's  official  poems.  Most  of  the  letters  are  from 
Southey,  and  there  is  one  congratulating  Rickman  on  his 
appointment  to  the  Table.  '  You  used,'  he  says,  '  to  notice 
a  sort  of  entailed  longevity  belonging  to  parliamentary 
offices  :  may  you  keep  up  the  custom,  and  live  to  a  better 
old  age  than  your  predecessor.'  The  joke  about  '  entailed 
longevity  '  is  still  a  good  one  in  the  Civil  Service,  though 
a  statutory  age  limit  has  robbed  it  of  some  of  its  point. 
It  was  in  the  autumn  of  1814  that  Rickman  made  his  first 
driving  tour.  For  these  years  I  only  give  two  letters,  the 
first  from  Southey  to  Rickman  on  Napoleon's  abdication, 
the  second  from  Rickman  to  Poole. 

'April  11,  1814. 

'  My  dear  R., — So  it  is  over,  dating  from  the  destruction 
of  the  Bastille,  a  tragedy  of  five  and  twenty  years  !  During 
two  and  twenty  of  which  I  have  borne  a  full  share  of  interest 
in  all  the  events. 

4 1  am  glad  that  the  French  have  given  fresh  proofs  of 
their  baseness;  this  gratifies  my  English  feeling.  And  I 
am  satisfied  with  Buonaparte's  fate,  for  this  upon  con- 
sideration gratifies  my  vindictive  principle.  Three  likely 
terminations  had  suggested  themselves  to  me  :  that  he 
would  find  enough  followers  to  die  game  ;  that  he  would 
kill  himself  ;  or  that  he  would  abscond  and  be  lost.  I  did 
not  suspect  that  he — even  he — was  mean  enough  to  be 
pensioned  off,  and  retire  to  hear  the  execrations  of  all 
Europe,  to  read  his  own  history,  and  taste  of  damnation 
drop  by  drop,  before  the  Devil  drenches  him  with  it  from 
a  cup  like  the  widow's  cruise.     (1  Kings,  16.) 

'  If  I  knew  Whitbread,  I  should  like  to  give  him  joy  upon 
this  occasion.' 

The  letter  to  Poole  mentions  the  corn  laws.  Owing  to 
the  fluctuations  in  the  price  of  corn  during  the  war,  a  select 
committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  was  appointed  to 
consider  the  question  in  1813.  This  committee  reported 
in  favour  of  a  sliding  scale,  and  a  bill  became  law  in  1815 
which  prohibited  the  importation  of  foreign  corn,  so  long  as 


176    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

wheat  did  not  rise  above  eighty  shillings  a  quarter.  When 
that  price  was  exceeded,  it  might  be  imported  free.  To 
understand  Rickman's  strictures  on  the  mob,  it  must  be  re- 
membered that  the  Luddite  riots  had  already  occurred,  and 
that  the  London  mob  grew  very  fractious  over  the  Burdett 
case  in  1810  and  over  the  contested  Westminster  elections. 

'  16th  February  1815. 

'  My  dear  Sir, — I  have  received  yours  and  am  glad  your 
desires  as  to  the  property  tax  and  corn  laws  are  likely  to  be 
effected.  I  have  not  the  least  objection  to  abolishing  the 
one,  or  amending  the  other,  but  as  I  happen  to  think  we 
live  under  a  Government  too  much  influenced  by  the  mob 
(the  ignorant  vulgar)  I  go  over  to  the  other  side  always,  by 
way  of  helping  the  vessel  against  such  shifting  ballast.  For 
fear  of  this  same  mob  I  suppose  we  are  to  legislate  rapidly 
as  to  the  corn  laws  lest  we  should  be  overwhelmed  with 
ignorant  petitions  as  last  session.  This  is  our  doing  or  not 
doing  or  undoing  anything — Vox  Populi,  Vox  Dei — the 
mob  is  to  be  chiefly  regarded.  About  the  endeavour  to 
enlighten  this  said  tyrannical  mob,  I  shall  not  pretend  to 
argue,  as  it  is  one  of  the  few  subjects  upon  which  I  have  not 
made  up  my  mind.  I  suppose  that  whatever  sum  total  of 
knowledge  is  to  be  produced  in  society,  it  will  still  be  con- 
venient that  the  wisest  should  legislate  for  the  rest.  My 
feeling  is  against  the  modern  rage  for  education,  because 
it  savours  of  the  mock  philanthropy  and  liberality  which 
during  my  time  have  been  the  curse  of  Europe,  and  the 
tide  is  not  yet  turned.  Scoundrels  are  to  be  well  lodged  and 
well  fed  at  the  expense  of  others  while  in  prison,  and  criminals 
are  to  be  pitied  and  protected  instead  of  the  society  they 
injure.     Debtors,  poor  men  !  are  not  to  pay  their  debts. .  .  .' 

The  first  letter  for  1816  is  another  instance  of  Rickman's 
excellent  sense. 

1 15  January  1816. 

'  My  dear  Southey, — G.  Bedford  called  here  four  days 
ago  for  a  frank,  and  under  great  uneasiness  lest  you  should 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    177 

publicly  gainsay  all  the  English  authorities  for  calling  the 
Battle  of  the  18th  June  after  the  name  of  the  English  head 
quarters  at  Waterloo.  I  who  know  how  strongly  you  feel 
on  that  subject,  should  hardly  venture  to  ask  you  to  change 
your  intention  of  not  calling  it  the  Battle  of  Waterloo  ;  but 
are  you  bound  to  call  it  by  any  name  ?  If  you  are  writing 
sub  specie  of  a  New  Year's  Ode — that  will  be  the  title, — 
and  you  need  not  make  yourself  a  martyr  for  the  sake  of 
propriety  of  a  name  :  for  I  verily  believe  the  indignity  so 
pointed  at  the  Duke's  silly — indeed  disgraceful  misnomer — 
would  be  resented  deeply,  and  to  your  serious  injury,  which 
would  be  the  more  vexatious,  as  the  shrewdest  people  who 
have  traversed  the  field  of  battle,  at  present  allow  your 
Quarterly  Review  narrative  to  be  not  only  the  best,  but 
better  than  themselves  could  compile.  So  that  being  on 
the  plus  side  with  regard  to  that  famous  field,  it  will  be  the 
more  vexatious  if  you  pass  over  to  the  minus. 

1  Morally  speaking  too,  I  am  of  opinion  we  have  no  right 
to  be  prudent  in  such  a  case  ;  the  name  and  the  reputation 
of  the  Duke  of  Wellington  is  a  very  solid  possession,  valu- 
able to  England,  and  to  Europe  while  he  lives,  even  to 
history  afterwards  !  Surely  we  are  not  bound,  by  any 
superlative  or  hyperbolical  taste  for  justice,  to  drag  any 
of  his  failings  into  the  light.  Let  us  grieve  for  them  in 
private  as  much  as  you  please  ;  but  not  pamper  French 
rivalry  by  displaying  them.  As  for  ^hanging  the  name 
of  the  battle,  that  is  impossible — abiit  in  morem — the 
Waterloo  Men  cannot  be  made  to  change  their  cognomen 
so  well  earned,  and  you  must  allow  that  it  is  public  mischief 
— because  inconvenient  to  all — to  have  contending  names 
of  any  thing.  I  suppose  the  execrable  French  will  name 
the  Battle  Mont  St.  Jean — they  are  welcome,  so  the  Russians 
tutored  by  Laharpe  ;  the  Prussians,  Belle  Alliance,  but 
the  latter  came  into  battle  very  late  in  the  day — too  late 
almost  for  any  impediment  to  explain,  and  evidently  too 
late  in  their  own  opinion,  since  they  think  it  worth  while 
to  err  three  hours  at  least  in  the  date  of  their  appearance. 

'  Pray  let  history  speak  of  the  Battle  of  Waterloo,  not 

M 


178    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

because  it  is  the  best  possible  name,  but  because  it  is  become 
the  name.  For  yourself  I  hope  you  can  avoid  any  endeavour 
to  assign  any  particular  name,  if  you  cannot  endure  to 
countenance  the  new  popular  misnomer.' 

There  are  many  allusions  to  Waterloo  in  the  correspond- 
ence of  1815  and  1816,  for  in  the  former  year  Southey  had 
gone  to  survey  the  field  of  battle  in  person.  He  had 
written  an  account  of  the  battle  in  the  Quarterly  Review, 
and  was  meditating  a  poem,  for  which  Rickman  sent  him 
some  further  information.  In  the  spring  of  1816  Southey 
was  struck  down  by  the  greatest  sorrow  of  his  life  :  his 
son  Herbert,  after  a  decline  of  some  weeks,  died  in  April  of 
an  affection  of  the  heart.  In  spite  of  his  philosophical 
reserve  in  letters  to  his  friends,  it  is  quite  clear  that  he  was 
heart-broken  by  the  death  of  the  boy  he  so  passionately 
loved.  The  letter  announcing  the  news  to  Rickman  was 
only  a  short  note. 

'Ap.  19,  1816. 

'  I  was  prepared  for  the  worst,  and  know  how  to  bear  it, 
having  much  practical  philosophy  and  much  real  religion 
— which  stands  me  in  better  stead.  Time  will  do  the  rest. 
My  bodily  frame  is  sorely  shaken,  but  this  will  soon  be 
remedied.  Much  happiness  is  left  me,  more  than  falls  to 
the  lot  of  most  men,  and  I  never  can  be  too  thankful  for 
having  so  long  enjoyed  that  which  is  now  lost.' 

Rickman  replied  with  a  letter  which  shows  the  imper- 
viousness  of  his  nature  to  emotion,  and  will  strike  most 
readers  as  rather  over-philosophic  in  tone,  however  kindly 
it  was  meant. 

'  23rd  April  1816. 

'  My  dear  Southey, — I  have  just  read  yours  of  the 
19th,  having  been  in  the  country  on  a  melancholy  errand, 
the  burial  of  Mrs.  Rickman's  mother,  who  died  10  days 
since.  Mrs.  R.  had  sufficient  notice  of  her  illness,  as  to 
go  down  two  days  before  her  decease,  which  was  very 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    179 

fortunate  for  the  feelings  of  the  now  dead  and  of  the  living. 
I  have  just  brought  back  Mrs.  R.  and  our  young  gentleman, 
who  was  staying  with  the  good  old  people. 

'  So  much  of  this  affair  ;  an  extremely  light  loss  com- 
pared with  yours.  That  an  old  lady  should  sleep  in  peace 
after  a  blameless  and  happy  life — past  "  Threescore  years 
and  Ten  " — is  much  in  the  order  of  things,  but  that  a  youth 
destined  to  renew  in  himself  what  his  parents  were,  who 
now  outlive  him,  is  very  melancholy  in  all  cases,  and  pecu- 
liarly so  in  yours.  But  we  must  not  think  too  much  on 
the  aggravations  which  might  be  enumerated.  I  have  to 
recede  from  high  hopes  which  I  had  begun  to  form  from 
your  late  accounts  of  his  habits  and  of  his  mind. 

'  I  am  very  glad  though  much  surprised  that  you  can 
even  speak  of  patience  on  this  occasion,  for  in  truth  I  feared 
as  much  for  you  as  for  the  youth  a  fortnight  ago.  You 
have  said  too  that  Mrs.  Southey  bore  up  during  the  illness, 
but  I  always  calculate  that  women  will  do  so  ;  men  are 
overset  sometimes  by  the  many  reasons  they  have  against 
giving  vent  to  their  feelings.' 

Of  the  other  letters  from  Rickman  to  Southey  during 
1816,  the  first,  which  gives  the  writer's  views  on  his  own 
work,  explains  itself.  The  pessimistic  tone  of  the  others 
is  accounted  for  by  the  depression  and  discontent  in  the 
country.  The  end  of  the  war  had  brought  down  prices 
with  a  run.  There  was  a  glut  of  British  commodities  in  the 
market,  and  corn  was  as  low  as  fifty-two  shillings  and  six- 
pence a  quarter.  There  were  many  bankruptcies,  labourers 
and  workpeople  were  turned  adrift,  the  ranks  of  unemploy- 
ment were  swelled  by  the  disbanded  soldiers — all  this,  added 
to  the  fact  that  trade  conditions  were  still  not  properly  re- 
adjusted after  their  disturbance,  due  to  the  advent  of  factories 
and  machinery,  and  that  the  price  of  bread  was  kept  high, 
produced  intense  misery  among  the  people,  with  its  usual 
result  of  turbulent  meetings  and  rioting,  in  which  the 
desire  for  relief  was  mingled  with  the  wild  clamour  for 
Parliamentary  reform.     The  harvest  of  1816  was  a  failure, 


180    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

and  bread  riots  ensued.  The  Government,  though  dis- 
credited in  the  popular  view  by  its  refusal  to  abolish  the 
income  tax,  by  its  abandonment  of  the  malt  tax,  and  by 
its  opposition  to  Parliamentary  reform,  was  not  blind  to 
the  situation.  Schemes  for  the  relief  of  pauperism  were 
widely  discussed,  and  considerable  attention  was  drawn 
to  the  scheme  introduced  by  Owen  at  Lanark  for  the 
common  holding  of  land.  At  the  same  time,  those  in 
authority,  with  the  lesson  of  the  French  Revolution  before 
them,  cannot  be  wholly  blamed  for  their  determination 
to  take  strong  measures  against  sedition.  The  misguided 
violence  of  such  men  as  '  Orator '  Hunt  and  William 
Cobbett,  who  deliberately  fostered  discontent  by  dangling 
before  the  eyes  of  the  common  people  the  wildest  schemes 
of  democratic  reform  as  panaceas,  led  the  Government 
not  unnaturally  to  consider  the  advisability  of  more  stringent 
measures  against  seditious  meetings  and  the  licence  of  the 
Press.  These  reactionary  tendencies  came  to  a  head  in 
the  '  six  acts  '  of  1819.  Rickman,  it  must  be  admitted, 
took  an  excessively  doctrinaire  view  of  things.  Because 
the  population  was  increasing,  and  because  goods  were 
plentiful,  he  persuaded  himself  that  the  cry  of  general 
distress  was  a  falsehood  of  those  whom  he  called  the  '  mock 
humanity  '  men.  Like  Southey,  he  was  a  violent  partisan 
on  the  side  of  order  and  authority. 

In  1816  Southey  was  summoned  by  Lord  Liverpool,  as 
the  former  told  Rickman,  to  consult  with  him  on  some 
scheme  for  opposing  '  pen  to  pen.'  The  idea  seems  to 
have  been  either  to  found  some  Government  newspaper 
to  combat  the  Radical  Press,  or  to  publish  a  book  giving 
the  Government  view  of  the  situation.  It  will  be  seen 
that  Rickman  strongly  urged  Southey  not  to  become  a 
journalist  in  the  pay  of  the  Government.  But  Southey 
had  no  desire  to  go  to  London,  and  as  there  seemed  nothing 
particularly  advantageous  in  the  proposition,  he  refused 
the  interview.  So  much  will  explain  the  allusions  in  the 
remaining  letters  of  this  chapter,  all  from  Rickman  to 
Southey. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     181 

■ 22nd  July  1816. 

' .  .  .  Scottish  affairs  all,  of  which,  contrary  to  expecta- 
tion and  probability,  I  have  had  a  more  oppressive  load 
during  the  last  Session  than  ever,  but  I  hope  at  this  expence 
I  have  secured  a  lighter  load  in  futurum,  but  I  wish  even 
that  could  be  laid  on  somebody  else  ;  no  payment  can 
compensate  such  a  tantalising  quantity  of  work,  yet  from 
this  I  cannot  escape  without  the  art  of  brain  transfusion 
could  be  discovered,  and  all  my  memory  of  the  subject 
placed  on  another  man's  shoulders.  But  this  cannot  be, 
and  for  3  years  more  I  must  drudge  on.  Yet  on  the  bright 
side  of  the  subject,  I  ought  not  to  be  dissatisfied  at  having 
been  the  instrument  of  trying  a  new  experiment,  which  I 
myself  much  distrusted  originally,  and  trying  it  success- 
fully ;  I  speak  of  the  aid  given  to  Highland  roads,  and  of 
the  other  affair  the  C.  [Caledonian]  Canal  ;  I  ought  not 
to  forget  that  it  is  of  unexampled  dimensions,  and  conse- 
quently of  much  originality  in  its  details,  that  my  history 
of  it  in  the  Annual  Reports  is  the  first  regular  history  of 
the  formation  of  a  canal,  and  a  history,  which  with  the 
adaptation  of  the  appendixes,  those  of  workmen  and  of 
amounts,  I  do  not  fear  will  ever  be  equalled.  We  must  see 
this  canal  next  year,  taking  Telford  with  us  (or  find  him 
there)  whom  I  think  you  may  have  seen  here — a  very  able 
and  very  liberal  man,  whose  plainness  you  will  much  like, 
an  early  friend  of  T.  Campbell  the  Poet,  and  of  Colonel 
Pasley — proof  of  his  good  taste  ;  both  of  them  respect 
him  highly,  and  in  his  unostentatious  manner  I  doubt  not 
his  friendship  has  served  them  much.  .  .  .' 

'  7  September  1816. 

' ...  As  to  the  schemes  of  cultivation  by  paupers,  even 
colonists,  ardent  colonists,  never  have  succeeded  in  working 
for  a  common  fund,  which  is  an  insuperable  premium  held 
out  to  idleness.  You  have  read  more  than  anybody  of 
the  practical  efforts  of  such  a  scheme  in  the  early  history 
of  Virginia  and  the  colonies.     Nothing  can  counteract  it 


182    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

but  tyranny  in  every  domestic  and  personal  circumstance, 
nor  perhaps  even  tyranny  unless  aided  by  some  religious 
delusion — the  confessional  of  the  Moravians  and  Methodists 
superadded  to  the  scourge  of  the  task  master.  Alas ! 
What  is  human  nature  and  human  liberty  doomed  to  suffer 
from  those  who  mean  best  for  both  !  Habits  and  forms 
of  society  have  formed  themselves  not  on  argument  or  pre- 
conceived advantages,  but  gradually  by  practice,  and  no 
speculator  in  dangerous  novelties  opposed  by  such  experi- 
ence ought  to  think  his  chance  of  being  in  the  right  above 
1  to  1000.  Such  diffidence  however  is  unusual.  I  almost 
forget  that  the  Jesuits  in  Paraguay  and  in  California  have 
taught  us  what  kind  of  human  beings, — men — children — 
may  be  produced  labouring  and  feeding  in  common.  They 
too  had  illusions  like  Owen  of  Lanark,  and  the  feeble- 
minded idiots  paraded  too  in  processions.  But  I  shall  tire 
you  and  myself.  One  thing  I  wish  to  say  as  to  an  opinion 
which  you  seem  to  entertain  as  to  the  well-being,  or  rather 
ill-being  of  the  poor,  that  their  state  has  grown  worse  and 
worse  of  late.  Now  if  one  listens  to  common  assertion 
everything  in  grumbling  England  grows  worse  and  worse ; 
but  the  fact  in  question  (the  belief  in  it)  is  even  a  curiosity. 
Human  comfort  is  to  be  estimated  by  human  health,  and 
that  by  the  length  of  human  life.  Now  I  imagine  I  have 
proved  in  a  very  unexceptionable  manner,  (see  p.  xxii.  of 
my  population  Preface)  that  since  1780  life  has  been  pro- 
longed as  5  to  4,  and  the  poor  form  too  large  a  portion  of 
society  to  be  excluded  from  this  general  effect ;  rather 
they  are  the  main  cause  of  it,  for  the  upper  classes  had 
food  and  cleanliness  abundant  before.  I  wish  I  had  time 
to  make  a  few  more  observations  in  your  poor  laws  treatise, 
which  is  very  good  in  the  main.  The  Bedford  lace  makers 
and  straw  platters  do  not  enter  into  the  computation  of 
agricultural  net  produce,  which  is  reckoned  according  to 
rent  and  tythe  :  they  increase  neither  of  these. 

'  How  many  theories  of  yours  and  mine  have  we  not  to 
talk  over  next  year  !  and  if  you  lead  me  to  Lanark,  and  I 
you  to  the  Caledonian  Canal,  we  shall  not  lessen  the  number. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     183 

I  hope  all  this  Avill  happen.  I  am  in  a  bad  state  of  mind, 
sorely  disgusted  at  the  prevalence  of  that  mock  humanity 
which  is  now  becoming  the  instrument  of  dissolving  all 
authority,  Government,  and,  I  apprehend,  human  society 
itself.  Again  we  shall  have  to  go  through  chaos  and  all 
its  stages.  It  is  of  no  use  to  think,  or  to  try  to  act  for  the 
benefit  of  mankind,  while  this  agreeable  poison  is  in  full 
operation  as  at  present.  I  retire  hopeless  into  my  own 
nut-shell,  till  I  am  disturbed  there,  which  will  not  be  long 
if  the  humanity  men  prevail.  The  revolution  will  not  I 
expect  be  less  tremendous  nor  less  mischievous  than  that 
of  France,  this  mocking  humanity  being  only  a  mode  of 
exalting  the  majesty  of  the  people — of  putting  all  things 
into  the  power  of  the  mob.  I  wish  I  may  be  wrong  in  my 
prognostic  on  this  subject.     In  the  mean  time,  Farewell ! ' 

'  24  September  1816. 

'  I  have  received  yours,  and  I  ought  not  to  delay  writing 
when  such  a  subject  is  on  the  anvil.  It  has  conquered  my 
growing  apathy,  proof  that  the  same  thing  would  happen 
to  others,  were  the  standard  of  resistance  widely  displayed. 
For  your  own  particulars,  it  is  enough  for  you  to  say  that 
you  expect  no  reward,  but  pray  never  say  needlessly  you 
will  decline  any.  How  long  has  it  been  that  the  workman 
in  a  good  cause  is  bound  to  decline  what  is  due  to  him  ? 
If  nothing  due,  it  can  only  be  that  he  is  an  inefficient  work- 
man. Pray  avoid  superfluous  liberality,  the  growing  vice  of 
the  age  ;  and  much  connected  (as  I  suppose  I  could  prove) 
with  the  mock  humanity  of  the  day — the  most  powerful 
tool  at  present  of  the  anarchs.  Justice  as  a  general  rule, 
liberality  as  a  rare  exception,  for  if  not  rare  it  supersedes 
the  rule,  so  that  the  good  are  not  protected,  and  the  bad 
not  restrained.  Be  sure  that  a  great  deal  more  selfishness 
than  either  you  or  I  have,  is  but  justice.  Why  postpone 
R.  S.  or  J.  R.  to  the  rest  of  the  alphabet  ?  Why  not  accept 
what  in  another's  case  you  would  be  first  to  give,  because 
most  justly  :  so  far  in  defence  of  you  against  yourself,  and 


184    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

be  sure  if  you  come  to  town,  you  do  so  at  the  expense  of 
the  secret  service  money. 

1  As  to  book  or  journal,  a  book  certainly  first,  and  let 
circumstances  settle  about  the  other,  in  which  I  should  be 
sorry  to  see  you  responsibly  concerned,  not  only  from  the 
obvious  meanness  of  the  occupation,  connected  as  it  must 
be  with  private  intelligence,  and  other  necessary  evils,  but 
much  more  from  the  total  absorption  of  all  time  ;  so  that 
as  an  author  who  writes  per  sheet,  soon  thinks  most  of 
finishing  the  sheet,  a  journalist  would  soon  be  worried  out 
of  all  high  principle,  and  mainly  consider  the  easy  completion 
of  the  daily  task. 

'  Besides,  connected  argument  is  wanted.  The  book 
must  pass  whole  and  undivided  in  every  one's  hand,  and 
become  the  standard  of  the  party,  who  must  be  banded 
against  the  anarchs  or  the  latter  must  needs  conquer, 
by  repetition  of  attack  of  an  undefended  post,  or  defended 
only  by  political  Quakerism. 

'  A  book  too,  if  written  with  the  understood  countenance 
of  Government,  but  not  at  their  dictation,  would  do  the 
more  good,  because  they  want  many  lessons  which  they 
could  not  consent  to  promulgate  themselves.  Even  high 
interests  must  be  attacked,  in  case  a  cyclopaedia  of  good 
salutary  measures  is  to  be  attempted,  and  the  book  would 
have  the  more  weight  and  reputation  for  that  degree  of 
independence,  which  every  single  man  in  office  would  allow 
to  be  good  except  where  it  touched  himself.  The  first 
being  that  nothing  is  more  injurious  than  their  tenderness 
(mock  humanity  again  !)  to  each  other.  No  man  is  turned 
out  for  inefficiency,  or  for  non-attendance  in  his  place  in 
Parliament — this  last  is  an  especial  evil.  How  often  were 
the  Gt.  beaten  last  Session  because  their  troops  did  not 
appear  so  punctually  as  their  opponents  ?  And  how  should 
they  be  brought  down  to  the  H.  C.  from  their  business  or 
their  dinners  when  such  a  Creature  as  A.1  is  the  Secretary 
of  the  Treasury  intrusted  with  the  important  management 
of  the  H.  C.  ?     The  members  both  hate  and  despise  him, 

1  Charles  Arbuthnot. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     185 

for  his  silly  vanity  and  coxcombry,  and  so  little  is  he 
informed  of  what  it  is  his  peculiar  business  best  to  know, 
that  on  the  evening  of  the  Income  Tax  defeat,1  he  assured 
his  employers  they  would  carry  the  vote  by  thirty  and 
upwards.  And  yet  this  man  still  smiles  and  simpers  in 
office.  You  may  imagine  he  is  not  the  only  instance  of 
such  ill-judging  tenderness,  but  the  most  flagrant  and  the 
most  dangerous  of  course  he  is.  No  session  can  pass 
without  defeats  very  discouraging  to  the  friends  of  Govt, 
and  good  order,  till  he  is  ousted. 

'  Your  book  ought  to  take  a  large  range.  Let  Mrs.  S. 
have  the  custody  of  this  Letter,  and  all  that  relate  to  it, 
that  in  case  of  need  she  may  destroy  all  trace.     Finis.'' 

'  November  25th,  1816. 

'  I  send  .  .  .  the  Police  Report  which  has  been  procured 
for  me.  If  you  read  it,  reflect  that  it  is  one  of  the  maladies 
of  the  age  to  abuse  everything  enormously  which  is  not 
quite  perfect,  and  this  confusion  of  various  degrees  of  com- 
parative merit  with  the  blackest  crimes  is  one  of  the  bad 
symptoms  of  our  time  :  induced  like  most  of  our  other 
evils  by  the  licentiousness  of  the  Press,  the  effect  of  which 
makes  one  doubt  (I  do  very  sincerely)  whether  the  no- 
information  of  former  times  or  the  mis-information  of  the 
present,  be  the  greater  evil.  Knowledge  does  not  appear 
to  me  to  have  increased  during  the  period  of  my  observa- 
tion, and  the  gross  ignorance  which  has  been  and  is 
manifested  in  the  popular  disputes  regarding  corn  laws — 
on  both  sides  the  most  absurd  proposals — makes  me  more 
lowly  in  my  opinion  of  the  reasoning  people  of  England. 
True,  Parliament  is  full  enough  of  really  wise  men  on  this 
subject  and  most  others.  But  the  better  part  of  wisdom 
is  (really  in  legislators)  discretion.  And  thence  they  dare 
not  tell  the  disputants,  infuriated  by  the  newspapers, 
that  agriculturists  have  been  injured  only  by  their  own 

1  The  Government  wished  to  diminish  the  tax  from  10  to  5  per  cent., 
but  Brougham,  who  proposed  its  abolition,  carried  the  vote  against  them. 


186    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

extravagant  expectations  and  consequent  expences,  and 
that  the  rest  of  the  nation  are  not  injured  at  all,  nor  could 
now  be  thought  to  be  in  "  distress  "  unless  the  said  news- 
papers had  said  so,  and  thus  encouraged  every  man  who 
is  lazy  or  profligate  to  talk  loudly  of  general  distress.  And 
in  truth,  besides  these  gentlemen  who  are  distressed  through 
their  own  demerits,  there  must  always  be  a  large  quantity 
of  real  distress  in  a  large  nation,  but  there  is  no  more  now 
than  usual.  Somebody  has  told  us,  that  Dr.  Stoddart l  has 
lately  discovered  (perhaps  puts  his  opinion  in  print  ?)  that 
we  labour  under  the  evil  of  too  much  population.  Now 
the  following  facts  are  indisputable  : — houses  more  than 
find  tenants  :  warehouses  full  of  clothing,  more  than  can 
be  worn  ; — corn  and  cattle  (last  year  throughout)  more  than 
could  be  eaten.  Even  wool  and  hides  almost  unmarketable. 
We  are  distressed  through  our  own  superabundance  of 
maintenance,  and  then  hear  of  too  much  population.  Pray 
destroy  this  folly,  and  shew  that  an  industrious  race  of 
people  cannot  be  too  populous,  that  their  number  only 
makes  them  more  and  more  independent  of  foreign  markets 
for  their  products,  manufactured  and  otherwise.  Were  it 
not  for  the  maintenance  of  our  navy  by  means  of  the 
carrying  trade,  I  should  not  be  afraid  of  going  to  a 
Chinese,  nay  Japanese  extent  in  this  case  as  far  as  national 
wealth  is  concerned.  But  there  is  no  fear  I  believe  of 
our  not  having  most  of  the  commerce  of  the  world  for  the 
next  half  century  at  least,  for  what  nation  or  people  can 
go  on  so  well  without  us,  as  we  could  without  them  ?  This 
is  conclusive. 

'  The  last  Edinburgh  Reviews  I  see  have  a  last  article 
about  as  dull  and  stupid  as  your  last  of  the  last  Quarty. 
is  spirited  and  well  informed.  The  rascals  think  they  have 
offended  their  spurious  allies  the  democrats,  by  their  not 
going  all  lengths  in  Parliamentary  Reform  in  the  preceding 
number,  and  now  seek  as  bastard  a  conciliation.  They 
do  not  know  how  to  steer  between  their  own  Opposition 
tenets  and  the  principle  of  the  anarchists  ;    between  the 

1  Leader  writer  on  the  Times.     In  1817  he  started  the  New  Times. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     187 

no-principle  and  the  principle  of  mischief.  There  is  no  need 
to  observe  much  upon  this  feeble  diatribe,  except  only  that 
the  admission  or  audience  at  the  Ho.  Commons  and  con- 
sequent publication  of  debates  is  a  weight  ten-fold  heavier 
on  the  side  of  liberty  than  all  the  petty  encroachments  of 
the  Crown,  which  they  alledge,  and  falsely  alledge  two 
thirds  of  them.  Certainly  our  Parliament  ought  to  have, 
that  is,  to  exercise  the  same  complete  right  of  occasional 
exclusion  as  is  exercised  in  democratic  America  ;  and  the 
want  of  that  occasional  practice  is  ten  millions  a  year  against 
us  in  war  time.  .  .  .  Demolish  all  this  nonsense  and  preach 
stoutly  upon  the  parodied  text,  "  that  the  power  of  the 
populace  has  increased,  is  increasing,  and  must  be 
diminished  " — or  a  revolution  must  move. 

'  The  article  on  the  liberty  of  the  Press  is  dull  enough, 
but  not  so  absurd  ;  I  have  no  objection  to  submitting  the 
question  of  the  truth  of  a  libel  to  the  jury,  but  would  add  by 
way  of  rider  to  such  a  bill,  that  all  public  libels  should  be 
punishable  in  your  manner,  and  that  no  public  meeting 
should  be  held  unless  convened  by  the  Lord  Lieutenant, 
or  Sheriff,  or  three  magistrates  in  a  Corporate  Town  :  and 
that  the  moment  such  convening  officers  or  magistrates 
absent  themselves,  the  meeting  becomes  illegal ;  and 
rebellious  after  the  first  half  hour.  What  but  arms  have 
been  wanting  to  this  quality  in  some  of  the  late  meetings 
in  Lancashire  ?  what  at  Nottingham  ?  The  laws  which 
protect  and  thereby  encourage  constables  in  keeping  the 
peace  ought  to  be  published  by  Government  on  a  half 
sheet  and  disseminated.  But  they  are  asleep  : — so  are  not 
you,  and  even  my  quietism  is  stirred  a  little.     Farewell.' 


CHAPTER  VII 


1817-1829 


Southey's '  Wat  Tyler ' — Rickman's  views  on  poor  law  reform — His  article  in 
the  Quarterly — A  letter  from  Luke  Hansard — Rickman's  depression — 
Letters  to  Lord  Colchester — Scottish  tour  with  Southey — The  model 
beguinage — Depression  again — Rickman  on  Canning — Opening  of  the 
Caledonian  Canal — Bertha  Southey — Roman  Catholic  relief — Rick- 
man's part  in  Southey's  essays — State  of  Ireland — Catholic  Relief 
Bill  passed — Co-operation — Rickman  Lamb's  '  friend  '  in  1829. 

From  1815  onwards  the  correspondence  between  Rickman 
and  Southey,  with  the  exception  of  three  letters  to  Lord 
Colchester,  is  the  only  source  on  which  we  can  draw,  but  that 
is  a  plentiful  source.  Between  1817  and  1832  the  political 
interest  of  the  letters  grows  till  it  reaches  its  climax  in 
the  almost  weekly  interchange  of  views  and  opinions  on  the 
subject  of  the  Reform  Bill.  During  1817,  though  Rickman 
was  overwhelmed  by  an  '  unexpected  gale  of  work ' — 
probably  the  stress  was  due  to  his  superintendence  of  the 
new  system  for  printing  the  Votes  and  Proceedings,  his 
work  for  the  two  Scottish  Commissions,  and  the  abstraction 
of  poor  returns — the  letters  were  fairly  frequent.  One  of 
the  incidents  of  the  year  which  closely  affected  Southey 
was  the  illicit  republication  of  his  '  Wat  Tyler  '  poem,  which 
was  written  in  the  days  of  his  revolutionary  ardour.  It 
was  no  small  scandal  that  such  a  youthful  indiscretion 
should  be  revived  against  the  Poet  Laureate  and  the 
sturdy  pillar  of  the  Quarterly  Review,  at  a  time  when  there 
were  riots  in  England  and  the  Habeas  Corpus  Act  was 
suspended.  Southey  applied  ineffectually  for  an  injunc- 
tion against  the  publisher ;  and  the  matter  was  made  worse 
when  Mr.  William  Smith,  the  Liberal  M.P.  for  Norwich,  came 
down  to  the  House  with  '  Wat  Tyler  '  in  one  hand  and  the 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     189 

Quarterly  in  the  other,  to  read  out  conflicting  extracts 
from  the  pen  of  one  whom  his  party  held  to  be  a  renegade 
and  a  time-server.  But  Southey's  part  was  warmly  taken 
by  his  friends  in  the  House  ;  he  was  defended  in  the  Courier 
by  Coleridge  ;  and  he  himself  ended  the  matter  in  his 
'  Letter  to  William  Smith,  Esq.  M.P.,'  which  was  a 
vigorous  and  fearless  attack  upon  his  unworthy  opponent. 
Rickman  alluded  to  the  scene  in  the  House  in  a  letter 
dated  March  17. 

' 17  March  1817. 
'  .  .  .  Oddly  enough,  as  you  have  seen,  W.  S.  seems  to 
have  suffered  B.  [Brougham]  to  have  put  a  brief  in  his 
hand  against  you.  But  however  this  happened,  you  may 
congratulate  yourself  on  the  venom  being  spit,  so  entirely 
without  effect,  or  rather  with  favourable  effect  to  yourself, 
every  body  seeming  to  cry  shame  on  the  malice  of  the  thing, 
and  nobody  almost  applauding  except  B.  with  a  few  of  the 
most  deeply  infernal  toned  Hear,  Hear  !  that  I  ever  chanced 
to  hear.  The  said  B.  seems  to  recognise  you  as  his  anta- 
gonist, and  thus  expresses  his  unfeigned  esteem.  Mr.  W.  W. 
[Wynn]  defended  you  very  well,  and  after  his  saying  that 
you  were  not  above  19  when  you  wrote  Wat  Tyler,  W.  S. 
began  to  wriggle  in  his  seat  and  half  apologise  by  gesture, 
afterwards  by  words,  for  so  strangely  lugging  in  so  strange 
a  criticism  in  so  strange  an  assembly.  Wat  Tyler  may  now 
do  his  worst,  which  will  be  little.  B.  made  a  long  speech 
on  the  distress  which  he  has  created,  stuffed  with  the  usual 
ingredients  ;  upon  the  faith,  no  doubt,  of  the  Ministry  in 
their  timidity  not  chusing  to  answer  much  that  was  answer- 
able. Yet  they  answered  enough  to  make  him  retract 
half,  under  the  accustomed  form,  that  he  could  not  have 
meant  the  things  he  had  said  with  high  emphasis.  Yet 
the  emphasis  goes  forth,  and  recantation  is  confined  to  the 
Ho.  Comm.  For  all  this  he  was  very  poorly  answered, 
though  it  is  plain  enough  that  things  are  coming  round  so 
far  that  a  fortnight  hence  his  speech  of  distresses  could  not 
be  uttered.     Had  there  been  no  such  birds  of  ill-omen  to 


190    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

fright  commercial  credit  and  enterprise,  no  distress  what- 
ever would  have  existed.  At  last  the  fact  is  working  off 
the  sophism,  and  the  market  is  glutted  with  the  money 
which  should  have  [been]  employed  in  the  proper  channels 
had  the  Messrs.  B.  and  Co.  permitted.     Farewell.' 

The  country  was  still  in  a  very  disturbed  state 
owing  to  economic  distress.  In  December  1816  the  Spa 
Fields  riot  had  occurred,  and  in  the  spring  of  1817  the 
Manchester  Blanketeers  began  their  abortive  march  upon 
London.  The  minds  of  all  thinking  citizens  were  turned 
upon  some  means  of  remedying  the  social  evils  of  destitution 
and  crime,  and  one  fact  which  was  prominently  brought  to 
light  was  the  unsatisfactory  state  of  the  poor  law.  The 
whole  system  of  poor  relief  was  founded  upon  an  act  of 
Elizabeth's  reign,  which  threw  upon  parishes  the  responsi- 
bility for  relieving  the  infirm  and  setting  the  able-bodied 
to  work.  This,  together  with  the  law  of  settlement,  passed 
in  the  reign  of  Charles  n.,  was  the  cause  of  the  chief  evils. 
The  settlement  law  caused  an  excess  of  labour  to  accumulate 
in  parishes,  for  which  they  had  to  find  employment.  The 
labourers  became  idle  and  improvident,  and  were  made 
more  so  by  the  tendency  of  the  preceding  century — marked 
particularly  in  Gilbert's  Act — to  make  relief  accessible  to 
as  many  as  possible.  The  stress  of  the  war  with  France 
increased  the  laxity  of  poor-law  administration.  What 
Rickman  with  some  truth  called  '  mock  humanity  '  resulted 
in  the  almost  universal  application  of  poor  rates  in  aid  of 
wages,  especially  when  the  excuse  could  be  made  that  by 
such  means  the  families  of  those  who  shed  their  blood  for 
the  country  were  being  kept  from  want.  The  poor  rate 
therefore  increased  with  alarming  speed,  without  conferring 
any  great  benefit,  for  the  system  kept  wages  low  and  en- 
couraged idleness.  In  1801  the  poor  rate  was  £4,000,000 
for  a  population  of  nine  millions,  in  1813  it  was  over 
£6,500,000,  in  1818  it  was  £7,870,801,  or  13s.  3d.  a  head 
for  the  whole  population.  In  1817  a  committee  to  inquire 
into  the  poor  laws  was  moved  for  in  the  House,  the  mover 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     191 

being  Mr.  Curwen,  who  recommended  making  the  poor 
rate  a  national  charge  to  be  levied  on  income.  The  com- 
mittee sat  under  the  chairmanship  of  Mr.  Sturges  Bourne, 
and  made  its  report  in  July.  The  actual  proposals  made 
were  so  inadequate  that  no  legislation  resulted,  but  the 
publication  of  the  report  first  brought  the  enormity  of  the 
abuses  before  the  public.  For  this  committee  Rickman 
abstracted  the  poor  rate  return  of  1748-1750  and  of  1816- 
1818.  After  that  year  he  abstracted  the  return  annually 
for  seventeen  years — work  for  which  he  received  no  re- 
muneration. But  the  poor  laws,  ever  since  his  association 
with  Poole,  had  been  a  favourite  study  of  Rickman's  ;  and, 
not  content  with  statistical  labours,  he  urged  Southey  to 
write  upon  the  subject  in  the  Quarterly,  undertaking  to 
supply  him  not  only  with  all  Parliamentary  papers,  but 
also  with  his  own  views  and  deductions  in  manuscript. 
It  is  with  this  subject,  therefore,  that  most  of  the  letters  of 
1817  are  concerned,  for  Southey  embraced  the  scheme 
warmly.  The  first  letter  which  I  quote  from  Rickman 
contains  suggestions  for  an  article  on  which  Southey  was 
engaged  early  in  the  year.  The  castration  of  this  article 
by  Croker  and  Gifford  aroused  Rickman's  and  Southey's 
great  indignation. 

'Feb.  1817. 

'  .  .  .  Pray  mention  another  quality  of  our  friends  the 
newspapers,  the  power  of  creating  a  newspaper  distress,  as 
it  is  at  present  in  great  measure.  But  this  must  be  said 
not  as  if  of  the  present  moment,  but  generally — that  they  could 
do  so,  and  must  have  done  so,  because  the  prosperity  we 
now  are  instructed  by  them  to  look  back  at  in  the  war,  they 
always  called  adversity.  See  how  their  cursed  venom 
operates.  Every  instance  of  unlucky  speculation  is  pub- 
lished with  comments  and  exaggeration,  any  profitable 
speculation  kept  snug  among  the  merchants  for  future  use  ; 
so  that  we,  having  more  mercantile  misfortune,  as  we  have 
more  shipwrecks  (because  we  have  more  ships  than  all  the 
world  together),  may  always  seem  to  be  as  unfortunate  as 


192    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

we  please,  by  enumeration  not  comparative  or  proportion- 
ate. So  of  the  landed  interest  :  a  man  who  reads  that 
nobody  can  pay  his  full  rent  certainly  will  not  pay  his.  A 
lazy  fellow  who  likes  begging  better  than  work  easily  joins 
into  the  general  opinion  that  no  work  can  be  had,  and  begs 
or  goes  to  the  parish.  Thus  the  newspapers  create  100,000 
beggars,  by  making  it  seem  necessity  not  crime.  See  how 
largely  this  tells  upon  the  profligate  in  all  degrees,  making 
each  more  profligate,  because  more  excusable,  as  children 
are  set  to  rob  lately  by  the  mock  philanthropist  humanity 
of  no  punishment.  In  the  aggregate  the  good  people  of 
England  are  always  to  be  kept  discontented  and  unhappy 
by  the  cursed  newspapers,  who  with  as  much  influence  as 
erst  the  R.  C.  religion  enforce  the  belief  of  a  transubstantia- 
tion  of  happiness  and  prosperity  into  its  opposite.' 

The  next  letter  refers  to  Curwen's  speech  on  the  motion 
for  the  poor  law  committee. 

'11  March  1817. 

'  .  .  .  Curwen  again  will  be  the  ruin  of  any  poor  law 
improvement.  Such  an  ignorant  long-tongued  man  to  be 
chairman  of  a  committee,  after  having  in  two  following 
years  showed  different  degrees  of  palpable  ignorance  in  the 
speech  moving  for  such  a  committee  ;  and  who  will  work 
in  it  under  his  name  and  banner  ?  Yet  many  members  are 
very  eager  and  very  well  informed  :  but  Curwen  must  ruin 
all.  You  touch  on  a  vexatious  subject,  the  cowardice  of 
the  Ministry,  which  I  anticipated  but  too  surely.  They 
have  passed  an  act  for  the  safe  custody  of  Cobbett,  and 
Hunt,  and  now  are  afraid  to  act  at  all,  thus  damning  their 
own  proceedings  and  furnishing  innumerable  arguments 
to  the  Opps.  Where  was  the  necessity  of  such  a  Bill,  in- 
active ?     It  irks  me  to  think  of  these  feeble  creatures.' 

The  following  letter  gives  a  fair  indication  of  Rickman's 
very  level-headed  views  on  the  poor  law  question.  If  he 
was  unduly  sanguine  of  the  success  of  individualism  in 
dealing  with  the  question,  he  was  perfectly  justified  in  his 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     193 

condemnation  of  parish  officers  and  magistrates,  and  in  his 
demand  that  thrift  and  industry  should  be  encouraged  by 
making  relief  unwelcome  to  those  who  could  work. 

'  8  May  1817. 

'  I  can  hardly  express  how  much  I  desire  to  write  to  you, 
but  the  days  and  nights  are  so  occupied  that  all  good  things 
of  even  half  an  hour's  cost  must  be  omitted. 

'  As  to  the  poor  rate  question,  pray  prepare  a  good 
common  place  in  praise  of  selfishness,  the  only  mover  of 
large  beneficial  action,  because  general,  and  from  it  I  would 
deduce  that  no  one  man  shall  undertake  to  understand 
another's  affairs,  nor  provide  for  his  wants,  real  or  pre- 
tended, upon  an  investigation  ruinous  of  valuable  time,  and, 
from  many  causes,  ineffectual,  or  worse,  to  its  aim.  No  parish 
officers  therefore  or  magistrates  to  scrutinise,  and  exercise 
either  their  ill  humour  against  the  poor,  or  their  facility 
against  their  neighbours.  A  rule  of  reasonable  duress  must 
be  general,  mere  sustenance  of  the  cheapest  kind,  and 
nothing  better  by  law,  whereupon  in  walks  industry,  care 
and  thrift  in  the  poor  ;  genuine  humanity, — alms  judiciously 
bestowed — circles  of  endeared  dependents, — active  and  pas- 
sive happiness  to  the  rich.  The  poor  must  thus  attain  good 
character  or  fall  upon  the  legal  sustenance,  which  very 
soon  none  would  fall  upon,  because  they  who  had  not 
friends  (which  yet  is  next  to  impossible  in  case  of  good 
character)  would  find  establishments  in  aid  of  the  friendless, 
and  those  behaving  well  would  attain  friends.  The  world 
would  all  be  bound  together  by  the  mutual  tye  of  good 
character,  and  our  English  age  would  assure  the  purity 
which  our  degree  of  civilisation  would  then  be  the  measure 
and  indication  of,  instead  of  the  antagonist.  But  you  must 
steel  your  soul  for  a  short  time  for  future  good.  Bread  and 
water  and  straw  for  all  who  have  not  character  to  elicit,  or 
industry  to  acquire,  better  maintenance.  That  each  man 
shall  take  care  of  his  own  peculiar  affairs,  and  that  no  man 
shall  have  a  right  to  demand  another's  property  beyond  the 
civilised  propriety  of  not  being  starved,  must  be  the  begin- 
N 


194    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

ning  of  future  good  ;  and  I  hope  my  hurried  exposition  of 
what  would  take  a  just  volume,  will  enable  you  to  look  far 
into  the  matter  ;  which  yet  do  not  mention  till  we  have  had 
opportunity,  travelling  in  the  Highlands,  to  discuss  diffi- 
culties and  look  to  consequences.  I  feel  convinced,  and  if 
I  can  put  into  you  a  temporary  severity  for  final  good 
purposes,  we  will  overthrow  all  the  evils  of  human  society, 
by  abolishing  poor  rates,  and  introducing  universal  good 
character  instead.  Charity  in  the  large  sense,  shall  then 
be  at  least  as  wide  as  England.  Perpend.  Farewell,  and 
prosper  in  your  journey.' 

In  the  autumn  Rickman  took  one  of  his  driving  tours 
in  the  north.  He  visited  Southey  at  Keswick,  and  went  on 
to  stay  with  the  Wordsworth  s. 

'  Tuesday,  23  September  1817. 

'  For  many  reasons  I  write  sparingly  when  not  at  home, 
but  as  to  our  proceedings  I  must  inform  you  that  we  en- 
countered Miss  Wordsworth  in  our  road  to  Ambleside, 
and  made  an  appointment  to  drink  tea  with  her,  where  we 
saw  the  Rydal  waterfall,  and  we  were  not  too  late  to  admire 
the  views,  near  and  distant,  from  Rydal  Mount.  But 
indeed  the  whole  ride  to  Ambleside,  especially  the  repose  of 
Grasmere,  cannot  be  surpassed  for  beauty.  I  was  sorry  that 
W.  Wordsworth  was  absent  from  home  in  Furness,  and  if 
I  had  seen  him  I  believe  I  should  have  touched  upon  the 
subject  of  the  good  and  evil  principles,  which  have  to  fight  so 
great  a  battle  in  our  time,  if  we  live  many  years.  Hitherto 
the  good  principle  has  eminently  prevailed  in  England,  as 
is  evident  in  the  superior  degree  of  civilisation  we  enjoy, 
and  the  majority  of  well  meaning  people  is  as  great  as  ever, 
but  their  good  meaning  must  be  out  on  its  guard  and  into 
activity,  or  the  mischievous  minority,  with  their  mighty  ally 
the  Press,  will  revolutionise  everything,  by  way  of  sop 
till  they  can  dare  a  general  assault.  I  will  read  what 
Mr.  W.  has  said  as  to  the  advantage  acquired  by  wickedness 
in  every  contest,  and  I  should  expect  that  if  he  can  con- 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    195 

descend  to  detail,  nobody  could  better  place  in  view  this 
momentous  danger.  But  I  will  say  no  more  on  this  subject 
at  present.  .  .  .' 

The  following  letter  was  aroused  by  the  fate  of  Southey's 
article  : — 

'  8  October  1817. 

'  .  .  .  I  heard  yesterday  that  Mr.  Gifford  is  dangerously 
ill  of  a  fever  ;  as  far  as  the  Review  is  concerned,  his  death 
would  be  a  good  thing,  if  he  be  indeed  the  cause  of  the 
miserable  servility  which  goes  not  an  inch  beyond  or  an 
inch  short  of  the  feeble  and  frightened  Administration: 
but  I  fear  Murray  himself,  instigated  or  controlled  by  Mr. 
Croker,  chooses  to  keep  in  that  narrow  path.  There  is 
good  apology  for  the  conduct  of  the  Administration,  who 
have  suffered  the  mob  to  encroach  upon  them  in  Parliament 
and  out  of  it,  that  the  great  cause  of  Europe  might  not  be 
interrupted  ;  at  least  I  give  them  credit  for  such  motive 
in  late  years,  and  now  they  cannot  retrieve  their  steps 
till  some  revulsion  (God  send  it)  shall  happen.  You  may 
give  them  credit  for  this  in  the  exordium  of  your 
Peninsular  History.  But  why  should  Murray  keep  his 
Review  in  such  a  servile  state,  a  cock  boat  in  tow  of  a  first 
rate,  instead  of  a  consort  aiming  at  the  same  good  end, 
but  by  a  more  direct  course  than  allowable  or  possible  to 
Government,  and  by  a  course  much  more  consistent  with 
the  professions  of  independence  which  all  publications 
affect  to  make  on  fit  occasions  ?  Can  Murray  be  so  blind  as 
not  to  see  that  in  point  of  interest  he  would  thus  attach  a 
large  party,  and  a  very  growing  party  (from  the  weakness 
of  Government  becoming  more  and  more  obvious  daily  : 
a  species  of  weakness  and  confusion  which  must  bequeath 
weakness  to  all  future  Administrations  :)  so  that  a  sect  of 
Ultras  must  spring  up  in  self-defence,  and  what  were  more 
noble  or  more  profitable  than  to  lead  them,  and  to  embody 
them  ?  .  .  .' 

It  was  not  till  late  in  October  that  Rickman  got  to  work 
upon  his  poor-law  reflections  for  Southey. 


196    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

■  29  October  1817. 

'  Herewith  you  have  Brazil,  the  first  sheet  I  see  of  Vol.  m. 
Success  to  its  progress  through  the  press,  and  in  the  world 
afterwards. 

'  I  thought  I  might  have  written  before  now  to  you  about 
the  poor  laws,  or  rather  the  abolition  of  them.  But  lo  ! 
I  am  called  upon  to  make  an  index  to  the  new  edition  of 
Mr.  HatselPs  Precedents  ;  four  vols.  ;  and  the  former 
index  being  quite  worthless  is  no  aid.  The  vols,  too  are 
very  full  of  Ho.  Commons  matter,  which  I  am  supposed  to 
understand,  and  must  try  to  do  so  on  this  occasion.  So 
I  have  stuck  to  it  closely  for  the  last  fortnight,  and  have 
sent  to  the  press  the  index  of  one  volume,  but  next  month 
will  close  before  I  have  finished  the  rest,  after  which  (my 
other  opera,  which  you  wot  not  of,  being  now  in  train)  I 
shall  begin  to  pour  out  my  concocted  animosity  against 
the  poor  laws.  Will  this  suit  your  order  of  battle  ?  Pray 
store  up  ammunition  in  the  mean  time,  as  occasion  offers 
for  reflection.  But  we  must  contrive  the  explosion  typo- 
graphic to  take  place  by  the  meeting  of  Parliament,  say  the 
20  January.  I  do  not  know  that  I  say  any  more  than 
already  voiced  in  the  following  sketch. 

'  Human  civilisation  is  founded  on  the  sacredness  of 
private  property,  which  is  enormously  trenched  upon  by  the 
poor  laws,  which  take  it  from  one  person  and  give  it  to 
another,  who  has  had  nothing  to  do  in  acquiring  or  realising 
it.  The  poor  in  fact  are  authorised  to  plunder  the  rich  by 
law,  when  in  time  all  must  become  poor  and  barbarian. 
Never  was  so  unjust  an  agrarian  law. 

'  Liberality  (which  means  the  transfer  of  property 
without  legal  compulsion)  if  carried  to  excess  is  the  same 
in  operation  and  effect  as  the  poor  laws,  but  it  depends 
upon  volition  and  fashion  of  the  age,  and  is  not  capable  of 
gaining  so  far.  It  goes  much  too  far  however,  and  must  be 
proved  to  be  a  question  of  degree,  and  a  question  of  justice, 
inasmuch  as  you  cannot  be  liberal  on  most  occasions  without 
being  wijust  to  other  claims.     As  a  king  cannot  be  liberal 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    197 

of  the  money  of  his  subjects  ;  he  only  takes  from  some, 
for  the  pleasure  of  giving  to  others. 

'  The  poor  then  have  no  right  to  relief ,  they  must  be  made 
to  ash  and  to  demand  it  ;  and  in  case  of  bad  character,  the 
overseer,  if  confirmed  by  the  decision  of  the  magistrate, 
shall  be  enabled  to  refuse  it,  and  send  the  poor  man  of 
lazy  habits  to  the  workhouse  ;  thus  to  be  fed  on  the  lowest 
species  of  fare  that  any  working  man  in  Great  Britain  eats. 
On  oatmeal,  potatoes,  and  water,  till  he  thinks  it  worth  to 
deserve  a  better  character.  Under  such  a  law,  it  is  safe 
to  limit  the  poor  rates  so  as  to  decrease  1/10  each  year, 
which  would  leave  about  £330  per  Ann.  out  of  £1000  in  ten 
years,  and  we  might  then  see  whether  farther  diminution 
proper.  Volunteer  cavalry  must  be  maintained  in  such 
proportion  as  to  check  all  Jaquery — and  in  time  all  men 
would  acquire  industrious  habits  and  good  character,  and 
almsgiving  would  resume  its  proper  function,  peace  and 
goodwill  spreading  away  thro'  all  the  various  orders  of 
society. 

'  The  details  are  infinite  under  these  heads,  the  episodical 
openings  many  and  tempting ;  and  if  we  begin,  the  difficulty 
will  be  to  compress  the  exuberant  material.' 

Rickman's  progress  was  not  quite  so  fast  as  he  expected, 
but  the  material  which  he  sent  to  Southey  was  so  good, 
as  the  letters  plainly  show,  that  his  paper  was  almost  un- 
touched and  sent  to  the  Quarterly,  where  it  appeared  in  the 
number  for  April  1818  under  the  title  '  The  means  of 
improving  the  People.'  '  Your  labours  have  given  me  a 
sort  of  holiday  from  the  review,'  wrote  Southey,  who  held 
over  the  material  which  he  himself  had  prepared  till  the 
autumn  number.  The  authorship  of  Rickman's  article  was 
well  concealed  ;  in  fact,  it  seems  to  be  still  a  secret,  for  the 
editors  of  Southey's  letters  do  not  publish  those  in  which 
he  admits  that  he  only  grafted  about  two  pages  in  all 
upon  Rickman's,  and  softened  the  roughness  of  his  style. 
The  article  itself  is  a  sensible  discussion  of  the  poor  law 
question  on  Tory  lines,  strong  and  straightforward  :    the 


198    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

author  points  out  as  evils  the  decay  of  the  old  system  of 
apprenticeship,  the  excessive  issuing  of  liquor  licences, 
the  want  of  severity  in  dealing  with  crime,  the  insufficiency 
of  education,  especially  of  religious  education.  I  suspect 
that  the  insistence  of  the  value  of  catechising  and  of  firm 
religious  convictions  was  Southey's  handiwork  ;  for  Rickman 
never  abandoned  his  somewhat  matter-of-fact  deistic  beliefs, 
and  there  is  a  clause  in  his  will  expressing  the  wish  that 
his  son  should  not  take  orders.  The  remedies  which 
Rickman  suggested  were  savings  banks,  which  were  then 
being  instituted,  a  system  of  general  co-operation  in  villages 
and  towns,  the  better  regulation  of  prisons,  and  the  aboli- 
tion of  excessive  legal  penalties  for  misdemeanours,  on  the 
ground  that  they  only  defeated  their  own  end.  Of  the 
subsequent  publication  of  this  essay  with  Southey's  essays 
something  will  be  said  below.  In  the  first  letter  of  this 
year,  '  E.  B.'  (Bennett),  W.  Davison,  and  W.  T.  Courtenay 
are  the  authors  of  three  books  upon  the  poor,  the  titles  of 
which  appeared  at  the  head  of  the  essay  in  the  Quarterly. 

'  January  6,  1818. 

'  Since  I  wrote  to  you  another  funeral  interruption  has 
delayed  my  attention  to  the  P.  L.  The  Marchioness  of 
Ormonde  having  died,  and  appointed  me  one  of  her  extors.,1 
I  was  under  the  necessity  of  going  into  Kent  with  the 
funeral,  instead  of  coming  here  to  quiet  labour  ;  and  to 
send  Miss  A.  R.  under  other  convoy  to  spend  her  Xtmas 
with  Mrs.  R.  and  her  brother  and  sister.  All  are  well, 
and  here  I  am  much  at  the  service  of  the  P.  L.  and  even 
with  practical  people  about  me  ;  who  like  very  well  to  be 
talked  on  the  subject.  My  head  is  become  so  well  loaded 
by  thinking  at  intervals  that  I  shall  find  ease  by  scribbling 
such  sheets  as  now  I  enclose.  But  I  must  expound ; 
what  you  have  now  is  not  only  to  follow  the  commonplaces 
which  you  may  perhaps  have  prepared,  but  the  article  must 
begin  with  a  sketch  or  catalogue  of  the  evils  of  the  P.  L. 

1  See  p.  22. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    199 

and  an  exposure  (brief  as  possible)  of  all  the  quacking  which 
at  different  times  has  been  applied  to  the  subjects, — work- 
houses, cow-cottagers,1  and  the  like.  What  I  send  is  the 
back-bone  of  the  new  principle,  strong  enough  I  think, 
and  excellent  you  shall  soon  hope  for  receiving  other  bones, 
and  joints,  and  muscles  ;  these  come  next,  and  you  shall 
receive  them  in  as  tolerable  order  as  I  can  put  them 
together.  With  them  you  will  not  have  much  trouble 
beyond  copying  with  amendments  my  scribble  ;  but  the 
main  principle  now  inclosed  ought  to  be  quite  re-written 
I  think  in  a  careful  manner,  and  in  your  strong  style.  I 
have  here  the  E.  B.  and  W.  Davison,  the  first  is  contemptible 
as  might  be  anticipated  ;  the  latter  is  very  respectable, 
and  in  some  parts  eloquent  and  impressive.  As  to  his 
schemes,  I  shall  speak  hereafter.  W.  T.  Courtenay's  book 
is  not  sold,  and  I  cannot  ask  for  it  without  giving  cause 
of  suspicion  of  what  I  am  about.  So  you  must  cut  the 
stitches  of  your  copy,  and  put  in  the  post  under  2  oz. 
packets.  ...  I  find  difficulty  and  restraint  in  writing  without 
using  the  first  person  ;  if  I  do  that,  can  you  turn  it  into 
reviewer's  plurality  ? 

'  If  you  are  pressed  for  the  article,  tell  of  what  importance 
you  think  it,  or  communicate  the  important  sheet  when 
re-written.  Say  also  that  at  the  meeting  of  Parlt.  returns 
will  be  presented,  without  the  use  of  which  a  series  of  poor 
rate  information,  necessary  to  the  strength,  or  rather  the 
research  of  the  article,  cannot  be  obtained.  This  is  true, 
much  beyond  what  can  be  supposed,  but  at  present  a 
secret :  and  you  may  promise  all  the  article  about  this 
day  month,  which  I  if  err  not,  will  put  out  the  next  No.  at 
a  three  month  period.  But  of  course  you  will  insist  upon 
your  convenience  as  strongly  as  you  please,  or  as  strongly 
as  W.  Gilford's  occasions  of  illness  or  leisure  sometimes 
do.  I  am  quite  vexed  at  having  him  so  inevitably  and  so 
repeatedly  pushed  away  from  the  subject  in  question,  but 
now  I  hope  to  stick  to  it.     Farewell. 

1  There  were  schemes  put  forward  for  providing  the  poor  with  cottages 
and  cows. 


200    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

'  I  hope  you  keep  Twelfth  Night ;  our  young  ones  are 
looking  out  for  a  cake  to-day.' 

'  10  January  1818. 

'  I  send  you  3  or  4  sheets  of  MS.  Two  or  three  more 
will  lead  me  to  the  close  of  the  article,  but  I  can  prefix  to 
what  you  now  have,  a  history  of  poor  rates,  catalogue 
raisonne  of  the  abominable  effects  of  the  poor  laws,  ex- 
pose of  the  injudicious  quackeries  which  from  generation  to 
generation  have  made  bad  worse.  Of  all  this,  or  these  large 
subjects,  you  shall  have  quant,  suff.  for  prefixing  to  all 
an  honourable  mention  of  the  article  in  a  late  Edin.  Review 
(by  Dr.  Campbell  the  popular  preacher  it  was  written), 
and  thus  tormenting  these  northern  revolutionists  into 
co-operation  with  the  good  instead  of  the  bad  in  the  poor 
law  question.  How  they  will  curse  their  own  independence 
in  having  committed  themselves  on  the  right  side  of  a 
question,  and  will  they  not  writhe  and  twist  to  escape  such 
a  misfortune  !  You  may  even  call  upon  the  Parly.  Oppn.  in 
the  same  strain,  and  their  feelings  and  conduct  will  not  be 
dissimilar.  Pray  soften  my  abrupt  straitforward  style, 
and  do  not  let  a  word  or  a  phrase  remain  in  compliment 
to  me,  who  shall  feel  the  more  out  of  sight  by  it,  and  the 
more  comfortable.     Farewell — I  turn  to  my  work.' 

On  the  same  date  as  the  above  a  letter  was  written  by 
Southey  to  Rickman,  which  shows  his  decision  to  use 
Rickman's  article  entire.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  he 
made  no  offer,  as  far  as  can  be  known,  to  pay  Rickman  any 
of  the  proceeds  of  the  article  ;  however,  Rickman  would 
have  most  certainly  refused  any  such  offer. 

'  10  January  1818. 

'  My  dear  R., — I  send  you  Courtenay's  letter ;  he  is  a 
worthy  and  well-meaning  man,  who  has  all  the  disposi- 
tion for  doing  good,  if  he  had  but  the  ability. 

1 1  have  done  a  good  deal,  and  altho'  what  I  have  done 
should  not  prove  to  be  amalgamable  with  your  communi- 
cations, there  will  be  no  labour  lost,  for  all  that  is  not 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    201 

relevant  to  the  thread  of  your  argument  may  be  set  aside 
to  form  a  separate  paper.  It  is  evident  that  you  have  a 
clear  and  connected  whole  in  your  mind,  bearing  as  it 
ought  to  do  with  full  weight  and  force  upon  one  point : 
two  head  pieces  might  interfere  with  each  other,  so  I  will 
act  as  mouth  piece  only.  I  had  been  spinning  perhaps  an 
overfine  thread,  partly  for  want  of  straightforward  matter  ; 
and  partly  to  take  off  common  attention  from  the  main 
argument,  by  the  garnish  with  which  it  was  drest  up,  like 
gilding  a  pill,  or  sugaring  the  cup  from  which  a  child  takes 
bitter  physic.  Not  that  it  is  mere  garnish ;  on  the  con- 
trary, it  may  make  a  wholesome  and  substantial  dish  by 
itself  in  a  following  number. 

'  So  I  shall  make  Murray  wait,  and  go  to  work  upon  your 
papers  in  good  hope  that  they  may  be  found  materially 
instrumental  in  forwarding  a  great  work.     God  help  you.' 

On  March  1 1  Southey  wrote  : — 

'  Your  finale  is  very  good,  and  cannot  I  think  be  improved. 
Indeed  the  whole  paper  carries  such  weight  with  it,  that 
surely  some  of  the  truth  must  make  its  way.' 

In  spite  of  his  humanity  Rickman  was  a  firm  opponent 
of  Romilly's  criminal  law  reforms,  on  the  ground  that  they 
tended  to  increase  crime,  and  were  the  result  of  exaggerated 
complaints  on  the  part  of  prejudiced  people.  Thus  he 
writes  : — 

'  25  March  1818. 

' . . .  I  send  the  2d.  Police  Report ;  what  is  in  it,  I  know  not, 
but  know  its  final  aim  to  be  the  impunity  of  crime.  This 
is  pursued  by  the  anarchists  with  a  long  train  of  mock 
humanity  men  at  their  heels,  and  is  perhaps  the  most 
dangerous  as  being  the  most  thriving  pursuit  of  the  anarch- 
ists. You  remember  Sir  S.  R.  [Romilly]  began  many  years 
since,  and  that  W.  Frankland  gave  him  an  answer.  He  has 
persevered  however,  and  will  persevere  till  unmasked.  For- 
bearance towards  him  has  gone  too  far.  Since  that  we  have 
heard  of  the  ill  usage  of  prisoners,  who  yet  have  been  better 


202    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

and  better  treated  continually  {usque  nunc)  to  the  enormous 
expence  of  the  counties,  i.e.  of  the  public  who  are  not  in 
the  habit  of  gaol-occupancy.  Then  gaolors  were  attacked 
because  the  great  Finnerty1  was  confined  for  a  libel  at 
Lincoln,  and  a  Commission  appointed  to  examine  that, 
Lancashire,  and  I  think  another  gaol  or  two.  They  re- 
ported all  excellent  in  care,  kindness,  and  regulation.  Of 
course  such  a  report  was  unnoticed,  and  slander  continued. 
Then  visitations  of  the  gaols  here  by  our  deluded  Commons 
(led  by  an  anarchist)  and  last  autumn  rebellions  by  the 
injured  prisoners,  in  direct  consequence.  At  four  prisons 
in  one  month  I  believe  last  autumn  much  damage  was 
done,  paid  for  by  the  city,  and  no  punishment  possible  of 
the  offenders.  Now  another  gaol  Commn.  is  about  to 
cause  the  do.  repeated.  So  much  for  the  terrors  of  im- 
prisonment. Then  the  police  officers  are  attacked,  with 
a  cry  of  blood  money,  of  course  ascribed  to  all,  if  any  one 
or  two  guilty,  and  lately  on  the  simple  assertion  of  a  con- 
demned felon,  long  examinations  of  a  meritorious  officer 
to  the  same  end.  So  that  the  officer,  not  the  thief,  or 
equally  with  the  thief,  is  to  be  questioned  by  Mr.  Thief 
and  associates  in  crime,  whose  testimony  well  managed 
must  be  decisive.  After  disposing  of  the  police,  the  judges 
are  to  be  slandered  into  insignificance ;  and  as  to  juries, 
they  are  sacred  and  right  just  when  and  where  and  so  long 
as  they  are  with  the  populace,  and  the  Press  which  leads 
and  follows  the  mob  for  its  weekly  and  daily  bread.  I 
write  in  great  haste  but  you  will  perceive  the  largeness  of 
the  conspiracy,  and  the  effect  already  is  a  vast  increase  of 
crime,  and  of  the  expense  of  conviction,  and  as  to  injustice, 
we  know  that  the  slightest  question  of  a  good  man's  char- 
acter and  conduct  is  worse  to  him  than  the  Old  Bailey 
trials  of  a  rogue,  each  a  triumph  to  be  boasted  of.  Is  the 
Quarterly  brave  enough  to  enter  upon  this  theme  ?  and 
the  liberty  of  the  Press  which  must  soon  govern  or  be 
governed  ? 

1  A  quite  unimportant  person,  who  brought  certain  charges  against  the 
gaolers  at  Lincoln. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    203 

1  The  second  Rept.  on  education  herewith  !  Mr.  Brougham 

was  busy  or  on  a  journey — or and  contented  himself 

with  proposing  a  Commn.   in    1817,  which  afterwards  he 
forgot  I  believe,  till  the  last  day  almost  of  the  Session.  .  .  .'  l 

The  next  letter  is  from  Southey,  announcing  the  good 
effect  of  Rickman's  essay  on  Murray,  Croker  '  (the  grand 
Castrator  '),  and  Bedford. 

'  22  April  1818. 

'  If  the  paper  makes  as  much  impression  abroad  as  it 
has  done  upon  Murraymagne,  the  Grand  Castrator  and 
G.  C.  B.,  it  will  do  its  work  in  the  world.  The  latter, 
whom  I  desired  not  to  speak  of  the  article  as  mine  upon 
the  pretext  that  it  was  well  not  to  be  marked  as  the  writer 
in  case  of  any  mobs  upon  the  business  (a  valid  reason,  tho' 
I  had  a  better  motive  for  caution),  replies  that  it  will  not 
be  recognised  for  mine  by  the  style  ;  and  then  he  praises 
the  style  very  properly  as  right  good  English,  and  me 
not  quite  so  properly  for  having  divested  myself  of 
all  mannerism.  This  will  amuse  you.  The  odd  thing  is 
that  he  has  not  the  slightest  suspicion  of  my  real  ignorance 
on  such  subjects  as  are  there  fathomed,  nor,  what  is  more, 
of  my  incapacity  for  them.  .  .  .' 

Rickman  replied  on  April  26. 

'  I  inclose  you  another  invigorating  proof  sheet.  You 
know  my  canon  of  criticism,  that  nobody  writing  a  book 
in  one  language  has  a  right  to  expect  any  other  language 
to  be  understood  by  his  reader.  I  speak  of  the  text,  not 
of  notes  or  authorities,  which  must  have  full  licence. 

'  I  am  amused  as  well  as  pleased  with  the  blindness  of 
G.  B.  [Bedford].  I  had  proof  enough  of  it  here,  as  he  brought 
me  one  or  two  of  the  proof  sheets  himself,  and  swore  specially 
to  your  hand-mark  as  to  the  fling  at  Malthus,  (by  the  bye 
a  very  odd  inconsistency  to  let  it  stand  so  soon  after  the 

1  Brougham's  commission  on  education  resulted  in  the  establishment  of 
the  Charity  Commission. 


204    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

Malthus  review  probably  written  by  himself  or  some  of 
Edin.  Review  friends).  G.  B.  also  recognised  you  in 
every  phrase  as  to  the  city  of  Ely,  and  only  wondered  that 
you  could  possibly  talk  of  self  concealment  as  author  of 
the  article.  For  certain  I  did  not  discourage  this,  and 
when  he  asked  me  why  I  did  not  wish  to  be  supposed  to 
correct  the  notes  or  to  have  furnished  any  of  them,  I  told 
him  I  could  not  be  known  to  have  done  so  without  becom- 
ing the  common  referee  of  all  M.P.s  whether  ignorant  or 
knowing  ;  and  that  in  this  shape  I  could  not  consent  to 
incur  such  danger.  This  suited  his  notion  of  Pandemonium 
very  well,  and  though  I  daresay  he  did  not  think  the  reason 
hindered  him  from  telling  Asm[odeus]  G.  [Gifford]  who  cor- 
rected the  notes,  he  also  gave  him  the  above  reason  for  such 
a  trifling  point  of  knowledge  going  no  further.  I  think  I 
saw  in  G.  B.  that  so  much  of  communication  was  needful 
to  keep  the  Gr.  Castrator  from  exercise  of  his  talent.  Alto- 
gether our  harmless  conspiracy  has  been  very  successful. 
The  Poor  Law  Commn.  have  proposed  feeble  Bills,  and  if 
I  mistake  not  symptoms,  the  leading  members  are  annoyed 
and  tired  by  the  incessant  applications  of  all  possible  parish 
officers  and  amateur  magistrates  ;  and  besides  much  dis- 
satisfied to  find  that  in  their  own  heads  they  can  only  find 
that  they  have  found  nothing  effectual,  though  after  taking 
much  thought,  they  will  soon  become  ridiculous,  if  not 
enlightened  ab  extra,  as  soon  may  happen,  though  the 
Quarterly  is  slow  in  coming  out — a  bad  thing  when  an  affair 
in  motion  is  in  question.  Already  the  Commn.  have  fore- 
sworn some  things  for  which  they  are  therein  praised, 
introduced  an  enormous  imprudence  there  deprecated. 
But  such  accidents  cannot  be  avoided.' 

This  political  correspondence  during  the  early  part  of  the 
year  was  diversified  by  a  pleasing  interchange  of  letters 
between  Southey  and  Rickman  upon  the  prospects  of  a 
young  man  called  Robert  Lovell,  a  common  friend  of  them 
both  who  had  come  to  London  to  earn  his  living  as  a 
printer.     He    was    a    modest,    industrious    person,    whom 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    205 

Rickman  took  a  pleasure  in  helping.  Accordingly  when 
Hansard,  his  employer,  mentioned  to  Rickman  that  he 
thought  he  could  promote  him  in  the  office  on  account  of 
superior  education,  if  Southey  would  testify  that  he  was 
so  qualified,  Rickman  wrote  asking  Southey  to  do  so. 
Southey  expressed  all  willingness,  but  the  good  designs 
were  partially  hindered  by  LovelPs  modesty  in  doubting 
his  own  efficiency  as  a  corrector.  Rickman,  however, 
overrode  his  objections,  and  sent  the  recommendation, 
which  drew  forth  the  following  letter  from  Luke  Hansard, 
the  original  publisher  of  the  Debates,  the  style  of  which, 
says  Southey,  is  '  truly  Hansardic' 

'  (Mch.  1818.) 
'  Mr.  Hansard  has  perused  and  reperused  with  much 
pleasure  Mr.  Southey's  classical  and  biographic  sketch  of 
Robert  Lovell ;  a  sketch  equally  honourable  to  the  gentle- 
man by  whom  it  is  drawn,  as  it  is  creditable  to  the  gentle- 
man who  is  the  subject  of  it. 

'  So  far  as  can  at  present  be  observed  of  Robert  Lovell's 
progress  in  the  printing-office,  Mr.  Southey's  interesting 
trait  is  not  overdrawn  ;  and  if  the  young  man  perseveres 
in  the  variety  of  trying  scenes  ever  attendant  upon  a  parlia- 
mentary business — late  and  early,  chiefly  early  hours,  some 
cram-full  to  overflowing,  then  standing  still  (but  yet  in 
awaiting)  and  then  to  another  overflowing  of  diversities, 
still  waiting  and  giving  instant  attention — Mr.  Hansard 
will  then  have  fair  opportunities — even  though  Lovell  be 
but  a  young  man  and  a  new  hand  but  just  come  into  camp 
— Mr.  Hansard  will  have  fair  opportunities,  which  he  shall 
gladly  seek  for  and  as  gladly  embrace,  of  coming  up  to 
Mr.  Southey's  and  Mr.  Rickman's  kind  and  solicitous 
wishes.' 

The  beginning  of  1818  had  been  quieter,  but  before  the 
end  of  the  year  there  was  a  strike  of  cotton-spinners  at 
Manchester,  which  led  to  many  deeds  of  violence.  The 
agitation  in  that  city  culminated  the  next  year  in  the 


206    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

'  Peterloo  massacre,'  at  which  the  soldiers  charged  an 
enormous  crowd  that  had  met  in  St.  Peter's  Fields.  This 
revival  of  agitation  seems  to  have  depressed  Rickman  con- 
siderably, as  the  two  following  letters  prove.  Southey  at 
the  time  was  occupied  in  fulminating  against  Brougham 
in  Westmorland.  Rickman's  depression,  which  recurred 
more  violently  a  few  years  later,  was  perfectly  genuine, 
but  it  may  be  suspected  that  overwork  had  a  good  deal  to 
do  with  it. 

<  5  Sept.  1818. 

'  .  .  .  I  confess  that  my  hopes  do  not  improve,  quite  the 
contrary,  and  if  I  do  not  write  often,  I  am  afraid  you  must 
ascribe  it  to  worse  spirits  than  ever  I  felt  before  in  my  life. 
But  do  not  mention  this. 

'  It  is  singular  that  the  most  likely  to  be  questioned  point 
of  the  poor  law  review,  the  reprobation  of  friendly  societies, 
should  so  soon  have  found  ample  justification  at  Manchester, 
where  the  lower  order  of  human  society  is  rotten  to  the 
core.  In  1816-17  they  set  out  for  the  metropolis  (in 
imitation  of  the  Marseillais)  because  they  had  no  work. 
But  the  then  cheapness  of  labour  renewed  the  suspended 
export  of  cotton  goods  :  that  reacting  raised  the  price  and 
demand  for  labour.  Instantly  a  portion  of  that  price  was 
vested  in  friendly  society  funds  for  the  sake  of  future 
mischief  now  in  progress.  The  spirit  which  could  pre- 
meditate to  this  degree  of  self-privation  for  20  months 
will  succeed  in  time  if  not  now  ;  and  the  staring  absurdity, 
that,  the  price  of  labour  raised,  all  commodities  must 
rise  in  price,  will  convince  no  mechanic  that  the 
Manchester  rebels  are  not  in  the  right.  I  doubt  not 
they  have  the  majority  of  every  town  and  of  most  villages 
in  England  in  their  favour.  Still  it  is  better  that  the 
rebellion  is  not  political  in  its  rise — pure  accident  this, 
but  a  lucky  one,  for  their  higher  allies  would  have  joined. 
As  it  is,  the  Manchester  rebels,  I  hear,  damn  the  reformers, 
their  former  leaders  in  the  Blanket  campaign.' 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  HICKMAN    207 

« 2nd  Oct.  1818. 

'  Your  notes  are  quite  a  comfort  to  me  in  my  depression, 
to  see  how  vigorously  you  are  employed.  ...  I  don't 
know  when  I  shall  be  so  much  my  former  self  as  to  think 
to  any  purpose  ;  at  present  I  see  in  prospect  a  jacquerie 
aided  by  the  scarcity  of  next  winter,  and  the  anarchists  of 
higher  order  all  agreeing  in  effort  to  depreciate  and  destroy 
whatever  is  established,  if  but  because  it  is  so.  In  this 
they  act  together  by  an  instinctive  worldly  wisdom,  while 
their  opposers,  having  conscience,  disagree  in  the  points 
each  would  defend,  and  will  make  a  feeble  stand  accordingly. 
I  am  vexed  at  seeing  this,  without  seeing  remedy.  We 
shall  not  even  have  a  fair  field  for  the  mortal  combat.' 

Hickman  was  accustomed  to  write  accounts  of  debates 
in  the  House  of  Commons  to  his  old  chief,  Speaker  Abbot, 
who  had  now  become  Lord  Colchester.  A  few  of  these  are 
printed  in  Lord  Colchester's  Diaries,  and  two  of  them  come 
in  opportunely  for  the  early  part  of  1819,  when  the  cor- 
respondence between  Rickman  and  Southey  is  scanty.  The 
first  is  a  criticism  of  Vansittart's  methods  of  conducting 
business.  A  dissolution  was  due  in  June,  and  Rickman's 
prophecies  so  far  came  true  that  the  Opposition  gained 
several  seats. 

•  March,  1819. 

'  My  Lord, —  ...  I  am  afraid  I  have  been  inattentive 
in  not  answering  your  Lordship's  late  letter,  but,  in  truth, 
our  work  at  the  House  of  Commons  costs  full  twelve  hours  a 
day,  and  I  am  forced  to  apologise  to  my  own  conscience  for 
as  many  defaults  as  well  as  I  can.  .  .  . 

'  The  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  fulfils  the  semper 
idem  which  was  applied  in  the  feminine  gender  to  Queen 
Anne.  He  went  into  the  Committee  of  Supply  (miscel- 
laneous services)  with  thirty-seven  M.P.'s  behind  him ; 
among  them  one  Lord  of  the  Treasury,  not  one  of  the 
Admiralty  ;  the  Opposition  mustering  about  fifty  in  front 
of  him.     When   they   came   to   the   Caledonian   Canal,   I 


208    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

remembered  that  poor  Mr.  Arbuthnot,  in  his  distress, 
once  referred  to  me  in  the  debate,  so  I  prudently  left  the 
Committee  in  care  of  Mr.  Brogden  1  and  Mr.  Ley,2  and 
retreated  to  one  of  the  Serjeant's  dog  holes,  where  I  heard 
quite  enough.  However,  the  grant  will  be  had  hereafter  ; 
no  thanks  to  the  generalship  of  Mr.  Vansittart  and  his 
aide-de-camp,  Mr.  Arbuthnot,  who  is  in  himself  quite 
enough  to  overset  any  Administration.  Equal  in  small 
things  as  in  great,  having  moved  an  Irish  writ  a  day  too 
soon,  he  forgot  it  for  a  fortnight,  and,  I  think,  has  not 
moved  any  writ  this  session  without  some  blunder.  .  .  . 

'  I  think  the  Opposition  has  a  good  chance  to  come  in, 
at  least  if  it  be  considered  that  they  will  always  be  sure  of 
the  support  of  the  friends  of  the  present  Administration 
in  the  impending  battle  between  the  mob  and  their  betters, 
the  newspapers  and  Parliament  ;  and  that  themselves  and 
the  mob,  in  spurious  alliance,  can  and  will  hasten  that 
crisis.     I  do  not  see  how  they  can  fail  to  arrive  at  this. 

'  To  be  sure  there  will  be  an  awkwardness  in  their  turning 
short  about  to  oppose  Reform  of  Parliament  (now  in  com- 
mencement at  Penryn 3),  and  Juries  (as  now  in  practice 
of  usurped  power)  and  the  liberty  of  the  press  (incompat- 
ible, as  now  practised,  with  the  liberty  of  any  other  thing, 
and  already  more  powerful  than  Parliament)  ;  but  all  this 
will  be  done  with  effrontery  enough  doubtless,  and  good  men 
will  have  to  rally  under  the  guidance  of  the  incendiaries 
when  all  is  in  flame. 

'  Mr.  Brougham  does  not  show  himself  much  ;  but,  in 
fact,  he  is  ill,  low-spirited.  .  .  .  His  absence,  however, 
keeps  concord  as  yet  undisturbed  among  the  Opposition. 
They  muster  well.  Lord  Castlereagh,  in  passing  Mr. 
Tierney  the  other  evening,  said,  "  I  should  like  to  learn 
the  secret  of  your  association."  The  Opposition  has,  I 
think,  gained  in  number  many  more  than  the  Government 

1  Chairman  of  Committees. 

2  Clerk  Assistant. 

3  Disfranchised  in  1828,  after  motions  for  its  disfranchisement  had  been 
made  every  year  for  several  years. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    209 

will  allow,  and  gained    much  more  in  M.P.'s  who  always 
attend.  .  .  . 

1  Always  your  Lordship's  most  obedient  servant.' 

The  second  letter  describes  the  debate  on  Grattan's 
motion  for  an  inquiry  into  the  laws  affecting  the  state  of 
the  Roman  Catholics. 

'  May  4,  1819. 

*  My  Lord, — I  fear  the  election  petition  business  of  the 
morning  will  allow  me  but  a  few  moments  to  tell  our  last 
night's  history. 

'  Mr.  Grattan  made  his  last  speech  ;  so  he  said  before  the 
day  came.  Mr.  Croker  made  an  odd  speech,  blaming 
oaths  because  not  enacted  at  once.  He  ought  to  have  a 
code  in  reward  of  his  ingenious  perversions.  These  spoke 
two  hours  each  ;  afterwards  Leslie  Foster  an  hour  ;  others 
brought  it  to  twelve  o'clock  ;  then  Mr.  Lamb,  Mr.  Peel, 
and  Mr.  Plunkett,  all  charged  and  primed,  reserved  their 
fire  for  half  an  hour,  mutually  wishing  the  others  to  speak 
first,  till  the  gallery  and  under  it  were  pretty  well  cleared 
(for  the  popish  priests,  in  both  places,  exhibited  the  silent 
impudence  and  perverseness  of  so  many  Quakers  on  this 
occasion).  The  Opposition  had  directed  an  assemblage  at 
twelve,  it  appeared  ;  so  that  all  those  of  the  other  side, 
who  expected  a  late  division  or  adjourned  debate,  were 
absent.  After  one  negative  voice  given,  Plunkett  pretended 
that  he  wished  to  speak,  but  this  Mr.  Wynn's  solitary  point 
of  order  withstood,  and  it  was  not  permitted.  The  division 
took  place  :  Opposition  242,  Anti-Catholic,  248.  And  from 
the  surprise  practised,  some  of  the  last  (sent  for  in  haste) 
came  in  while  the  dispute  about  Mr.  Plunkett  lasted  and 
the  door  opened  to  let  out  some  of  the  most  tardy  of  the 
Papists.  Then  all  M.P.'s  were  directed  to  state  whether 
or  not  they  were  in  the  House  when  the  question  was  put, 
which  had  been  done  at  twelve  ;  disputed  if  final  till  half- 
past  ;  put  finally  afterwards  :  so  that  what  their  statements 
referred  to  no  man  could  tell.  A  fine  confusion,  which 
o 


210    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

terminated  at  half-past  one.     Ayes,    241  ;   Noes,    243,   as 
corrected. 

'  The  Opposition  counted  252  instead  of  242,  and  were 
sadly  chagrined  at  rinding  themselves  in  a  minority,  after 
a  thousand  congratulations  inter  se,  wagers  won  and  lost, 
and  the  supposed  decision  reversed,  etc.  .  .  .  Yours  most 
obliged.' 

During  the  autumn  Southey  accompanied  Rickman  and 
Telford  on  a  tour  in  Scotland,  which  he  described  in  a  long 
letter  to  his  friend  Neville  White.  The  party,  starting 
from  Edinburgh,  went  by  Loch  Katrine  and  Dunkeld  to 
Dundee,  thence  up  the  east  coast  to  Aberdeen,  Banff,  and 
Inverness.  They  proceeded  to  follow  the  Caledonian  Canal 
to  Loch  Lomond,  and  ended  at  Glasgow.  Southey  had 
many  pleasant  recollections  of  this  tour,  and  his  recollections 
were  transcribed  for  the  benefit  of  Rickman's  family.  A 
pleasing  sequel  to  this  tour  was  that,  after  computing 
Southey's  share  of  the  expense  next  year,  Rickman  asked 
his  friend  to  consider  that  he  had  repaid  the  money  by 
devoting  it  to  paying  the  fees  for  the  honorary  degree  of 
LL.D.  conferred  on  him  at  Oxford  in  1820.  Two  political 
letters  to  Southey  end  the  year.  The  first  describes  the 
debate  on  the  second  reading  of  the  Seditious  Meetings 
Prevention  Bill,  one  of  the  so-called  '  six  acts  '  which  the 
Government  considered  it  necessary  to  pass  for  the  repres- 
sion of  disorder. 

'  Friday  Evening  [Dec.  3,  1819]. 

'  To-night  we  have  holiday  from  debate  ;  Brougham's 
indisposition  which  made  him  speak  2|  hours  after  mid- 
night was  rather  tiresome  this  morning.  Lord  Palmerston 
who  said  a  few  words  afterwards  (in  notice  of  some  of  B.'s 
personalities)  made  a  laugh  by  assuring  the  House  he  was 
himself  in  perfect  health  and  therefore  they  might  dread 
from  him  another  speech  of  3  hours.  Brougham  has  quite 
fallen  off  from  all  logic  or  argument ;  this  second  long  speech 
of  his  like  the  first  contained  nothing  of  either,  dextrous 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    211 

personality  and  misrepresentation  made  the  sum  total  of 
both.  Yet  this  noisy  adventurer  is  likely  soon  to  take  the 
post  of  Leader  of  Opposition,  Mr.  T.  [Tierney]  being  very 
sick  of  it.  I  am  much  afraid  that  the  Administration  is 
about  to  relapse  into  liberality  ;  that  they  will  make  the 
Bill  temporary  to  save  a  few  hours  debating,  and  in  that  case 
the  Opp.  will  have  to  boast  they  were  right  in  opposing  the 
Bill  before  it  was  so  modified.  So  again  will  they  be  able 
to  raise  their  heads  which  at  present  lie  in  political  perdition, 
or  at  least  in  the  slough  of  despond.  The  mania  for 
opposition  to  Government  in  England  is  stronger  than  the 
very  Opps.  themselves  reckoned  upon.  Only  30  less  vote 
with  them  now  than  on  the  dry  party  qn.  of  last  year, — 
the  pitched  battle  which  Mr.  Tierney  had  cause  to  remember. 
And  their  steady  phalanx  of  150  is  no  more  than  they 
expected  at  the  beginning  of  the  Session.  They  lost  indeed 
22  last  evening,  and  as  Lord  Darlington  begins  to  discover 
that  his  Durham  friends  are  rather  dangerous  to  his  lord- 
ship, the  Opps.  who  draw  more  from  his  purse  and  politics 
than  from  any  other  source  want  to  escape  from  contest,  and 
in  proportion  to  their  wish  for  escape  will  be  the  folly  of 
the  Government,  if  they  permit  it.  The  Bill  which  is  to 
curb  the  press  is  ridiculously  feeble  compared  to  the  disease 
— so  I  expected,  but  as  I  see  no  good  done  without  a  direct 
censorship,  I  am  not  likely  to  be  satisfied  till  better  times 
come.  I  called  on  Dr.  Stoddart  since  my  return  to  feel  how 
bravely  his  pulse  beat.  Slop  ;  slop,  slop,  was  the  response.1 
He  praised  his  own  prudence  in  not  too  rashly  applauding  or 
justifying  the  conduct  of  Government  in  dismissal  of  Lord 
F.2  though  he  said  he  was  desired  to  do  this.  Charm- 
ing neutrality ! — of  which  I  in  my  rashness  comprehend 
neither  policy.  He  should  take  decided  part  for  his  own 
sake.' 

1  Stoddart,  editor  of  the  New  Times,  was  nicknamed  '  Dr.  Slop  '  by  his 
contemporaries. 

2  Lord  FitzWilliam  was  dismissed  from  the  lord-lieutenancy  of  Yorkshire 
for  taking  a  prominent  part  in  a  meeting  held  to  pass  a  vote  of  censure  on 
the  conduct  of  the  Manchester  magistrates  in  the  '  Peterloo  '  affair. 


212    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OP  JOHN  RICKMAN 

<  11  Dec.  1819. 

'  I  see  the  patriotism  of  the  Oppn.  is  nearly  weary,  and 
they  begin  to  leave  town,  after  having  given  up  a  large 
fortnight  of  their  time  to  the  brave  Radicals  ;  so  that  we 
shall  be  able  to  adjourn  at  or  soon  after  Xtmas.  The  worst 
feature  of  our  proceedings — or  rather  of  intended  proc. — 
has  been  the  actual  design  of  granting  to  Mr.  Bennett  *  a 
committee — To  enquire  into  the  state  of  the  Manufacturing 
Districts — as  if  the  effect  of  such  a  comm.  would  not  have 
been  many  times  worse  than  any  other  sort  of  parly,  enquiry 
that  could  have  been  devised.  Luckily  Mr.  B.  prefaced 
his  motion  with  a  speech  which  fairly  displayed  his  inten- 
tion of  leading  his  comm.  into  a  wide  field  of  political 
enquiry.  Whether  the  violence  of  his  temper  or  his  per- 
sonal disinclination  to  sacrifice  his  holidays  induced  him  to 
this  declaration,  I  know  not ;  and  I  cannot  conceive  that 
Govt,  can  be  ignorant,  that  had  his  comm.  been  granted, 
nothing  could  have  hindered  him  from  collecting  all  his 
Radical  allegations  now  extant,  and  a  large  crop  which 
would  have  sprung  up  for  the  occasion,  and  this  would 
have  been  printed  with  the  apparent  sanction  of  the  Ho. 
Commons.  Of  course  all  persons  who  have  conspicuously 
resisted  the  Radicals,  especially  the  Manchester  magis- 
trates, would  have  been  summoned,  or  would  have  appeared 
without  summons  before  this  comm.,  and  what  sort  of 
treatment  they  would  [have]  had  before  a  court  constituted 
of  Mr.  Bennett  solus,  or  supported  by  Burdett,  Lambton 
and  the  like,  Ministers  ought  to  have  considered  :  but  they 
are  infatuated,  or  could  not  have  adopted  the  liberal  in- 
tention of  committing  all  things  to  a  comm.  of  this  kind.' 

The  interest  of  1820  is  again  mainly  political.  The  Cato 
Street  Conspiracy  to  assassinate  the  ministers  was  the  first 
excitement  of  the  year.  Then  the  King  died,  and  was 
succeeded  by  George  rv.  Finally,  the  whole  nation  was 
set  in  commotion  by  the  so-called  '  Queen's  trial,'  which 

1  A  prominent  reformer. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    213 

won  the  Queen  the  highest  popularity  and  resulted  in  a 
virtual  defeat  for  the  Ministry.  Rickman  seems  to  have 
continued  in  rather  low  spirits,  and  told  Southey  that 
he  was  meditating  a  list  of  words  by  misapprehension  of 
which  the  world  was  governed  badly,  and  a  plan  by  which 
a  book  of  several  chapters  might  be  so  made.  Southey, 
who  was  hard  at  work  on  his  Peninsular  War,  was  moved 
by  political  events  to  begin  his  Colloquies,  which  finally 
appeared  in  1829.  Of  the  four  letters  from  Rickman  to 
Southey  which  I  give  for  this  year,  three  are  on  current 
politics,  and  one  (the  third)  gives  Rickman's  own  imaginary 
scheme  for  his  beguinage,  a  Utopian  dream  of  which  he 
never  tired. 

'  10  January  1820. 

'  Our  Parliamentary  campaign  was  sharp  though  short, 
and  left  me  some  accumulation  of  various  business  chiefly 
Highland,  and  now  I  must  work  hard  at  a  Road  and  Bridge 
Report  till  Parlt.  meets,  and  in  the  appendages  till  Easter 
I  suppose.  In  fact  the  history  of  proceedings  is  more  to 
me  than  the  business  itself — a  necessary  evil  however,  and 
one  of  which  I  now  see  the  termination.  Part  of  life  has 
been  well  spent  perhaps  in  starting  well  such  a  novelty  in 
the  government  of  civilised  nations  as  the  half  contribu- 
tion scheme  pursued  in  the  Highland  improvements,  and 
on  similar  occasions,  if  ever  they  occur,  the  managers  will 
perceive  that  it  is  possible  by  care  and  attention  to  pro- 
duce a  satisfactory  result.  It  has  been  lucky  that  Mr. 
Hope,  Mr.  Telford,  and  I  have  all  lived  17  years,  as  the 
death  of  any  one  of  us  would  have  produced  a  terrible 
derangement — De  hoc  satis. 

'  The  laws  that  have  been  passed,  especially  those  which 
strike  at  the  liberty  !  of  the  Press,  seem  to  me  good,  as  a 
necessary  preface  to  better,  when  they  are  found  to  be 
ineffectual.  Have  you  seen  the  impudent  declaration  of 
the  hell-hounds  of  the  Press,  which  puts  the  matter  fairly 
enough  at  issue,  as  a  question  of  domination  ?  I  inclose 
it,  copied  from  a  famous  caricature  libel  of  theirs,  which 


214    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

probably  has  reached  you.  The  two  worst  things  the 
Session  has  produced  are  the  proof  of  the  amazing  blind- 
ness of  Lord  C.  [Castlereagh]  to  the  effect  of  Mr.  Bennett's 
Commns.,  and  still  worse  the  apparent  concession  to  the 
Whig  scheme  of  Parly.  Reform,  which  the  self  complacent 
little  M.P.  for  Tavistock *  introduced,  and  which  ought 
to  have  been  answered :  Yes,  provided  we  begin  with  the 
independent  borough  of  Tavistock.  For  the  plan  cannot 
but  extinguish  all  boroughs  in  succession  ;  the  witnesses 
being  forced  to  speak  out  as  to  all  past  transactions,  and 
as  to  the  general  character  and  custom  of  the  borough.  Yet 
I  am  afraid  both  Lord  C.  and  Mr.  Canning  are  not  unfavour- 
able to  an  experiment,  which  very  experiment  will  take 
away  all  ground  of  argument  against  going  farther,  and 
will  soon  produce  revolution  and  thereby  in  succession  a 
military  government  of  course. 

'Unless  the  text  I  mentioned  be  openly  and  convin- 
cingly insisted  on,  this  cannot  be  prevented,  especially  as 
the  other  source  of  revolution,  an  unbridled  press  and  the 
number  of  readers  increasing  geometrically,  cannot  so  exist 
without  the  same  result.  Dr.  Bell's  scheme  seems  to  sup- 
pose a  censorship  of  the  Press,  or  its  omnipotence.  Now 
I  confess  it  to  be  a  sort  of  government  I  had  rather  not 
exist  under.  I  feel  half  a  slave  already,  I  wish  to  throw 
off  my  chains.  .  .  .' 

'  10  February  1820. 

'  Oddly  enough  I  was  taking  a  sheet  of  paper  to  write 
on  to  you  when  yours  of  this  day's  arrival  made  its  appear- 
ance. I  was  ruminating  on  your  present  task,  and  think- 
ing the  occasion  good  for  clearing  away  the  villainous  mist 
of  prejudice  and  misrepresentation  which  by  agency  of 
the  oligarchs  of  the  Oppn.  Press  prevents  the  nation  from 
recognising  the  indubitable  signs  of  the  unexampled  pro- 
sperity of  the  last  £  of  a  century,  and  this  due  under  Pro- 

1  Lord  John  Russell. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    215 

vidence  to  an  unavoidable  war  and  peculiarly  to  the  very- 
attack  made  on  our  commercial  prosperity  by  Napoleon. 
Our  taxation  has  been  enough  perhaps,  but  certainly  not 
more  than  enough  to  draw  forth  our  energies  (as  an  un- 
certain northern  climate  has  made  us  improve  in  agriculture 
and  grow  more  corn  than  the  countries  round  the  Medi- 
terranean where  our  corn  is  indigenous)  and  there  can  be 
no  real  doubt  (I  don't  include  Opp.  doubt)  that  we  are 
more  able  at  the  accession  of  Geo.  iv.  to  make  national 
exertions  if  needed,  than  at  any  past  time.  The  technical 
question  about  our  finances  and  national  debt  is  a  low 
one,  fit  for  Opp.  The  Chancellor  of  the  Excheqr.  may 
be  perplexed  in  finding  unexceptionable  machinery,  but 
after  all  a  man  is  not  the  poorer  for  being  indebted  to 
himself :  the  two  sides  of  a  ledger,  merely  phantoms  of 
Dr.  and  Cr.  and  so  it  is  with  old  England  and  her  bugbear 
debt. 

'  And  who  would  not  extol  what  George  iv.  our  Regent 
has  performed  by  his  perseverance  in  the  late  war  ?  For 
that  was  personal,  because  the  devolution  of  power  into 
the  hands  of  those  early  friends(\),  who  would  not  have  so 
persevered,  was  practicable  and  even  tempting  to  the 
Regent  if  but  to  avoid  or  preclude  the  incessant  malice  and 
mud  that  he  was  sure  enough  these  early  friends  of  his 
would  favour  him  with,  and  if  he  broke  from  their  factious 
trammels,  that  is,  declined  persevering  in  a  conspiracy 
against  himself,  his  future  crown  and  dignity,  he  must 
have  been  a  fool  indeed  not  to  have  foreseen  the  conse- 
quences of  still  remaining  a  modern  Whig  (though  indeed 
these  early  friends  did  once  build  a  stone  wall  for  their  own 
purposes  in  that  taste,  and  ran  against  it  to  the  lasting 
benefit  of  John  Bull).  Thank  God  their  late  sneaking, 
denied,  allowed,  rejected,  alliance  with  the  Radicals  has 
sunk  them  low  enough  !  Did  you  see  the  pitiful  answer  of 
the  high  Whig  Lord  Fitz.1  to  the  address  of  the  Yorkshire 
Whig  Radicals  the  other  day  ?  The  subdued  tone  is  very 
satisfying. 

1  FitzWilliam. 


216    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

'  You  are  in  good  order  (by  favour  of  Coxe)  for  a  com- 
parison of  the  D.  of  Marlborough  and  the  English  exploits 
of  that  age  in  the  same  scenes  of  action  (France  excepted  !) 
with  the  D.  of  Wellington  and  our  own  age.  I  cannot 
execrate  the  Opp.  spirit  sufficiently,  when  I  perceive  that 
their  perseverance  working  on  English  feelings  (always 
querulous,  and  captious  of  public  men)  has  not  only  dis- 
guised from  the  nation  the  magnitude  and  importance  of 
military  exploits  of  the  Regency,  but  even  prevents  myself, 
without  argument  and  induction,  and  comparison  historical, 
from  feeling  the  new  glories  of  my  country.  To  what 
extent  must  that  misrepresentation  (both  in  quality  and 
quantity)  be  which  shall  habitually  influence  the  feelings 
of  the  man  who  sees  and  complains  of  it — the  very  anta- 
gonist power  of  truth  which  sometimes  exaggerates,  is 
palsied  !     Frightful !  ' 

1 20th  February  1820. 

*  .  .  .  My  notion  of  a  female  establishment  is,  that  any 
benefactor  erecting  a  set  of  chambers,  shall  thereby  acquire 
a  right  (alienable  by  will,  gift,  or  sale,  like  other  property) 
to  place  inmates  there  on  certain  conditions,  such  as  that 
security  shall  be  given  that  each  enjoy  a  competent  income 

not  less  than  £ while  she  resides  there  ;   that  she  shall 

be  bound  to  the  necessary  rules  of  female  decorum  on 
pain  of  instant  expulsion,  and  to  such  other  rules  as  are 
indispensable  to  the  well  being  of  the  community.  But 
that  nothing  like  common  meals  shall  be  proposed,  the 
ladies  to  choose  their  own  mutual  society,  of  which  there 
would  be  enough,  and  to  make  all  minor  arrangements 
among  themselves.  I  believe  for  external  appearance,  to 
prevent  expence  and  vanity,  and  to  restrain  the  number 
of  idle  applications,  a  uniform  dress  would  be  proper  ; 
and  for  many  purposes,  such  as  prayers,  bad  weather  and 
peripatetic  exercise,  a  large  room  would  be  a  respectable 
adjunct  to  the  edifice,  and  for  which  the  fundatores  might 
be  taxed  a  per  centage  upon  their  several  chambers. 

'  Under  such  easy  laws  as  these,  and  considering  how 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    217 

fashionable  and  how  laudable  is  the  appetite  for  virtuous 
patronage,  I  do  not  see  how  there  should  be  failure  among 
the  female  nobility  and  thousands  of  other  opulent  females 
so  to  invest  part  of  their  money.  None  of  it  could  be  spent 
more  for  their  own  reputation  and  respectability,  and 
considering  that  the  individuals  admitted  would  not  of 
necessity  (nor  usually)  be  maintained  by  the  foundress  of 
the  chamber,  but  recommended  to  her  by  those  who  might 
have  interest  or  gratification  in  giving  security  for  the 
maintenance  of  the  inmate,  I  cannot  but  think  that  the 
foundress,  who  might  even  let  or  sell  an  admission,  the 
immediate  patron  of  the  admitted  female,  who  might  thus 
exonerate  himself  from  care  and  anxiety  were  better  motive 
wanting,  and  the  admitted  female,  whose  maintenance  for 
life,  or  at  least  for  a  specified  term  of  years,  must  be  secured 
before  her  admission,  would  all  find  motive  enough  for 
falling  into  a  plan  simple  and  unambiguous  in  its  arrange- 
ments, and  (if  not  woefully  mismanaged)  of  the  highest 
respectability. 

'  I  do  not  know  whether  you  are  prepared  to  agree  with 
me  as  to  the  necessity  of  a  secured  income  to  each  female, 
but  I  have  enquired  enough  in  and  about  such  female 
societies  (such  there  are  for  clergymen's  widows  at  Branley, 
at  Winchester,  at  Froxfield,  at  Lichfield,  and  I  daresay 
elsewhere)  as  to  be  fully  convinced  that  respectability 
cannot  otherwise  be  maintained.  You  cannot  hope  to 
keep  poverty  and  meanness  apart,  even  dishonesty  and 
sordid  habits  too  often  accompany  it,  and  if  a  female  is 
poor  and  friendless  she  is  not  for  that  the  better  or  more 
worthy,  in  short  there  must  be  a  classification  of  relief, 
and  I  treat  of  the  upper  class  :  observing  only,  that  many 
would  be  exalted  into  that  upper  class  were  the  means  of 
so  exalting  them  easy,  and  obvious  to  the  wealthy.  Few 
wills  would  be  without  bequests  of  the  competent  annuity 
to  some  humble  friend.  Various  societies  would  be  at 
various  rates.  I  should  say  from  £50  to  £100  per  annum, 
or  some  such  minimum  and  if  a  wealthy  foundress  resided 
herself,  she  would  have  larger  facility  for  beneficence  than 


218    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

display.  Her  love  of  the  community  (so  conspicuous 
among  monks  in  former  times)  would  found  libraries, 
plantations,  walks,  cloisters,  gaudy  days  (whether  obit  or 
birthday),  medical  attendance,  a  chaplain  perhaps,  Creados  l 
sufficient  for  the  garden,  the  porter's  lodge,  for  watch  and 
defence  and  for  government  the  foundress  must  legislate, 
the  inmates  elect  their  executive  among  themselves.  .  .  .' 

<  6  March  1820. 

'  .  .  .  The  Opps.  would  be  in  a  doleful  plight,  did 
Governmt.  stir  a  finger  in  its  own  behalf  ;  but  that  I  suppose 
is  become  unlawful,  and  I  really  believe  that  the  zeal  of 
the  hell  hounds,  few  and  contemptible  as  they  are,  will 
cause  the  Opps.  to  profit  by  the  new  election  in  spite  of  the 
manifestation  of  the  outward  and  visible  effect  of  Oppn. 
patriotism.  Yet  I  do  not  despair  of  reaction  hereafter. 
The  Liberals  are  uncloking  apace ;  Germany,  France, 
England  2  have  seen  the  commencement  of  assassination 
already,  and  the  mass  of  mankind  cannot  much  longer  be 
blind  to  its  origin  :  and  if  we  can  abolish  the  helhsh  Press, 
I  do  not  despair  of  human  society,  founded  on  more  bland 
principles  than  individual  independence,  which  is  become 
a  power  of  misbehaving  without  punishment,  and  conse- 
quent mob-government.' 

In  1821,  the  year  of  the  coronation,  at  which  the  Queen 
made  her  ill-advised  attempt  to  be  present,  Rickman  was 
very  busy  in  compiling  a  very  long  Highland  Roads  and 
Bridges  report,  a  Caledonian  Canal  report,  and  the  popu- 
lation returns.  His  letters  were,  therefore,  few.  How- 
ever, the  following  fragment  throws  an  interesting  light 
on  Rickman's  early  character  : — 

1  6  Nov.  1821. 
'  I  have  been  much  edified  by  reading  your  Cromwell 

1  Presumably  Rickman  means  criados= servants  (Spanish). 

2  Rickman  refers  probably  to  the  respective  assassinations  of  Kotzebue, 
the  Due  de  Berry,  and  Perceval. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    219 

in  the  Q.  Review.  I  even  allow  that  the  Peninsular  War 
ought  not  to  grumble  at  such  Remorae.  When  I  was 
young,  no  book  was  more  in  my  hand  than  Rushworth, 
so  I  became  learned  in  the  histy.  of  his  time,  and  am  agree- 
ably surprised  to  perceive  that  you  know  more  about  it 
than  I  do.  .  .  .1  was  such  an  Oliverian  in  my  time  at 
Oxford  as  to  have  obtained  the  agnomen  of  Old  Nol :  but  I 
believe  half  my  zeal  was  feigned  to  tease  certain  Royalists. 
Here  I  am  working  hard  at  the  Population  Abstract  into 
the  preliminary  observations  of  which  I  think  I  shall  be 
able  [?  to  insert]  some  matter,  which  will  put  to  flight  for 
ever  and  aye  the  Distress  of  the  Times — in  past  history — 
with  good  inference  when  the  Opps.  raise  that  cry  again.' 

The  quarrel  between  Southey  and  Byron,  which  after 
the  publication  of  Southey's  Vision  of  Judgment  late  in 
1821  became  acute,  had  its  echo  in  the  correspondence 
with  Rickman,  who  sympathised  entirely  in  the  Laureate's 
attack  on  the  '  Satanic  School.'  Politics,  however,  were  the 
subject  uppermost  in  his  mind.  At  the  beginning  of  the 
year,  Liverpool,  who  had  already  secured  Wellesley  and 
Peel,  tried  to  strengthen  his  party  by  attracting  some  of 
the  Grenville  following.  Grenville  himself  refused  office, 
but  Southey's  friend,  Charles  Wynn,  became  a  cabinet 
minister.  Rickman,  however,  did  not  regard  affairs  in  a 
much  brighter  light.  The  prospects  of  the  Caledonian 
Canal,  for  instance,  were  viewed  by  him  with  undue 
pessimism.     On  April  30,  1822,  he  wrote  to  Southey. 

<  30  April  1822. 

'  .  .  .  We  continue  to  be  much  obliged  to  you  for  your 
kind  communication  of  northern  remembrances.  I  am 
sorry  to  say  that  the  Caledonian  Canal  is  a  tender  subject 
at  present.  It  is  come  to  the  birth,  but  whether  strength 
will  be  afforded  in  this  economical  year  to  bring  it  forth — 
to  open  it  throughout — I  am  not  confident,  so  that  I  am 
ill  at  ease  on  any  allusion  to  a  subject  which  but  for  this 
ought  to  be  most  pleasing  to  me,  and  I  am  exceedingly 


220    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

overwhelmed  with  the  Population  Abstract  and  other 
business  at  present.  After  the  Session  I  hope  to  recover 
from  a  sort  of  depression  thus  occasioned.  .  .  .' 

Later  in  the  year,  in  the  course  of  a  long  letter  com- 
plaining of  very  heavy  work,  he  addressed  Southey  in 
desperation. 

< 2nd  July  1822. 

* .  .  .  Political  affairs  are  tending  fast  to  dissolution 
of  Government,  unless,  when  all  see  that,  a  revulsion  hap- 
pens ;  we  shall  have  a  chance  to  witness  the  result.  At 
present  the  country  gentlemen  half  of  them  vote  against 
the  Administration  because  corn  is  cheap  ;  not  seeing  with 
whom  they  therefore  vote,  of  course  with  the  anarchists. 
Practically  I  suppose  the  Ho.  Commons  will  be  the  scene 
of  the  impending  dissolution  of  the  English  constitution, 
as  it  is  called.  The  Opps.  have  at  this  moment  an  un- 
questionable and  practical  veto,  somewhat  acquired  by 
insolence  and  perseverance,  more  by  the  liberality  (God 
help  the  word)  of  the  Administration,  who  act  too  without 
concert  and  in  disgust  (natural  enough)  of  the  degraded 
state  in  which  they  collectively  feel  themselves.  Do  you 
not  observe  that  we  have  been  doing  nothing  for  more  than 
two  months,  that  is,  nothing  but  listening  to  opposition 
speeches,  and  resisting  their  motions  ?  Defensive  war 
must  be  successful  in  the  sequel :  already  the  friends  of 
Government  are  gone  to  their  country  seats,  and  a  compact 
squadron  of  Radicals  prevent  all  business  by  clamour,  or 
on  pretence  of  a  late  hour,  or  the  absence  of  somebody  who 
takes  interest  in  the  proper  business  of  the  evening.  In 
fact  half  the  supplies  of  the  year  and  the  most  disputeable 
are  not  yet  granted,  nor  have  the  Govt,  been  able  to  go 
into  the  Co.  Supply  since  Easter,  though  it  has  been  specially 
appointed,  and  notices  of  motions  in  it  given  by  the 
Treasury  oftener  than  once  a  week.  But  the  Opps.  have  a 
complete  veto.  Whether  this  Session  (as  is  likely)  may 
disclose  this  irresistably,  or  whether  they  have  so  much 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    221 

mercy  in  their  own  conscience  as  to  defer  the  result,  I  know 
not,  perhaps  care  little,  for  such  a  contemptible  state  of 
things  is  not  agreeable,  and  this  mode  of  destruction  is 
inconvenient  to  us  of  the  Ho.  Commons,  the  wear  and  tear 
of  endless  debates,  or  to  no  purpose  but  to  prove  the  un- 
checked insolence  of  the  Opps.,  and  of  an  interminable 
Session  being  a  melancholy  mode  of  extinction  of  mind  and 
body.  And  now  the  habit  has  been  established  by  the 
oscitancy  of  the  Govt.,  the  Press  will  not  permit  recovery 
of  power.  In  that  mob-engine  is  no  slackness,  and  con- 
cession is  never  regained  from  it,  the  result  of  which  two  is 
certain:  what  always  advances,  never  recedes,  must  arrive 
at  its  own  end,  at  sovereignty,  sooner  or  later,  unless  the 
eyes  of  the  stock-holders  and  of  country  gentlemen  are 
opened  by  some  outward  and  visible  sign  of  what  they 
cannot  see  without  some  violent  process.  It  is  quite 
comical  (if  not  of  such  serious  import)  that  they  continue 
to  be  lookers  on  of  the  contest  between  the  Govt,  and  the 
Radical  squadron,  as  if  it  were  a  game  for  their  amusement. 
You  will  not  wonder  if  I  am  fatigued  and  disgusted  at  what 
I  must  see,  and  cannot  help  to  remedy,  an  essential  neutral, 
like  the  inhabitants  of  the  seat  of  war.  No  comfortable 
situation  ;  I  see  no  chance  of  the  Session  ending  till  the 
middle  of  August. 

'  Farewell — Mrs.  R.  desires  her  remembrances.  I  shall 
be  much  gratified,  if  I  ever  exist  again  for  rational  purposes, 
to  see  your  colloquies.' 

During  the  session  Peel  succeeded  Sidmouth  as  Home 
Secretary,  and  on  August  12  Castlereagh,  who  had  lately 
become  Marquis  of  Londonderry,  committed  suicide  in 
a  fit  of  morbid  depression.  In  March  Canning  had  accepted 
the  governor-generalship  of  India,  and  was  preparing  to 
depart  when  Castlereagh  died.  It  was  felt  that  Canning 
was  the  only  possible  successor  to  the  position  of  Foreign 
Secretary,  but  it  took  some  little  time  to  overcome  the 
Bang's  dislike  for  him.  So  on  September  7  Rickman  told 
Southey  : — 


222    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

'  At  present  Canning  or  no  Canning  is  the  question.  An 
intriguing  man  ever,  and  from  one  of  his  intrigues  a 
Queenite.  Yet  such  is  the  state  of  things  that  the  Ho. 
Commons  business  cannot  be  carried  on,  without  quite 
so  much  as  his  help,  and  Governmt.  without  him  will 
expire  from  lack  of  physical  force.' 

Canning  was  appointed  on  September  9,  and  Rickman 
again  vented  his  dislike  to  Southey. 

'  18th  September  1822. 

' .  .  .  Are  we  all  to  travel  through  anarchy  to  despotism  ? 
I  fear  it  must  be  so,  and  I  take  the  cause  to  lie  in  the  one 
simple  aim  of  the  wicked,  against  the  divided  opinions  of 
their  opponents.  Mr.  Canning,  for  instance,  strenuously 
resists  reform  of  Parlt.,  but  is  an  advocate  for  at  least  the 
present  degree  of  the  liberty  of  the  Press,  though  nothing 
can  be  more  evident  than  the  misnomer,  it  is  indeed  domina- 
tion, and  of  a  kind  held  intolerable  by  all  men  except  in 
this  instance, — power  without  responsibility,  and  irresistable 
in  its  incessant  encroachments,  while  it  so  remains.  I 
do  not  think  the  Ho.  Commons  will  be  the  death  of  Mr. 
Canning,  because  I  expect  he  will  be  assassinated  before 
that  happens.  His  wit  and  eloquence  when  often  exerted 
in  behalf  of  the  established  order  of  things,  will  be  felt  too 
severely,  when  it  is  also  felt  that  nothing  stands  in  the  way 
of  the  dissolution  of  the  British  Government  if  he  can  be 
removed  ;  for  in  that  case  the  present  Administration  must 
succumb  from  mere  inanition,  and  the  reign  of  the  Whigs, 
intolerable  to  the  monied  interest,  could  not  last  three 
months  unless  in  revolutionary  form,  in  concessions  to  the 
Radicals — An  unpleasant  prospect !  .  .  .' 

Canning  was  a  prominent  supporter  of  Roman  Catholic 
relief,  and,  while  he  was  still  out  of  office,  had  brought 
forward  a  bill  to  enable  Catholic  peers  to  vote  in  the  House 
of  Lords.  Southey  and  Rickman  felt  acutely  on  the  ques- 
tion, and  on  Southey's  having  informed  Rickman  of  a 
reported  plan  of  Canning's  to  oust  certain  opponents  of 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    223 

Catholic    relief   from   the    Cabinet,    Rickman    replied    on 
December  20  : — 

1 1  have  to  thank  you  for  your  letter  of  political  intelli- 
gence, none  of  which  had  reached  me,  beyond  a  general 
intimation  that  Canning  was  at  his  old  sport — intrigue — 
from  which  he  will  never  refrain  till  at  the  head  of  affairs. 
...  I  should  not  be  surprised  if  Mr.  Canning  and  some 
other  seeming  friends  of  the  R.C.  should  really  like  a 
rebellion,  which  would  get  them  out  of  the  scrape  which 
their  liberal  absurdity  has  placed  them  in.  While  cheap- 
ness of  provisions  prevails,  the  Radicals  of  England  are 
powerless,  and  a  religious  war  in  Ireland  will  place  matters 
in  a  clear  point  of  view.' 

The  beginning  of  1823  saw  the  appearance  of  the  first 
volume  of  Southey's  Peninsular  War,  upon  which  Rickman 
wrote  him  a  generous  appreciation,  though  he  could  not  keep 
politics  out.  '  One  cannot,'  he  says,  '  in  imagination  picture 
a  more  contemptible  animal  than  a  Whig  Radical.'  Never- 
theless, he  had  more  pleasant  thoughts  to  fill  his  mind, 
connected  with  the  opening  of  the  Caledonian  Canal. 
Southey,  fired  by  his  tour  in  1819,  wrote  three  inscriptions 
to  be  put  up  at  Clachnaharry,  Fort  Augustus,  and  Banavie 
respectively.  These  lines  were  carved  on  stone  at  Rick- 
man's  direction  as  a  surprise  for  Telford.  The  following 
letter  refers  to  this  pleasant  incident. 

•  4th  April  1823. 

'  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  sundry  letters,  which 
ungratefully  or  from  my  daily  living  I  have  not  answered, 
but  this  is  the  Easter  week  ;  I  have  cleared  away  arrear 
of  business,  and  am  paying  my  debts  of  private  corres- 
pondence. 

'  You  have  been  so  good  I  know  to  write  inscriptions  ; 
et  his  similia,  of  and  concerning  our  Highland  works.  All 
is  well  there,  now  ;  the  Canal  open  and  becoming  popular, 
and  I  foresee  I  shall  conquer  the  absurd  reliance  which  the 
semi-barbarians  have  imbibed,  that  they  are  not  to  pay 


224    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

for  the  maintenance  of  their  roads.  They  have  been  in- 
dulged so  much  as  to  believe,  that  they  do  me  a  favour  in 
suffering  me  to  repair  those  roads,  but  it  is  come  to  such  a 
pass  this,  that  I  have  turned  upon  them  sharply  enough 
to  convince  them  of  their  error,  and  all  will  be  well.  They 
are  spoiled  children  learning  to  kiss  the  rod,  so  that  on  the 
whole  you  may  celebrate  in  prose  or  verse,  all  our  exploits, 
with  great  safety,  and  I  will  support  you,  if  needful,  and 
therein  myself.  .  .  .' 

In  April  there  comes  an  interesting  letter  from  Rickman 
to  Lord  Colchester,  describing  the  debate  on  Plunket's 
motion  for  Catholic  relief.  The  Radicals  seceded  owing 
to  the  high  words  that  had  arisen  between  Brougham  and 
Canning,  Brougham  having  accused  Canning  of  deserting 
the  Roman  Catholics  on  taking  office  ;  Plunket  was  then 
left  in  a  considerable  minority.  The  first  part  of  the  letter 
refers  to  a  charge  which  was  brought  against  Plunket  of 
unconstitutional  procedure  as  Attorney-General  for  Ireland. 

'  April  18,  1823. 

'  My  Lord, —  .  .  .  We  go  on  in  the  House  of  Commons 
very  well  as  to  the  Catholics.  Plunkett,  in  the  anguish  of 
an  evil  conscience,  and  terror  of  disgrace,  was  so  imprudent 
as  to  defend  himself  by  criminating  others  on  notoriously 
false  evidence,  I  am  told,  and  this  is  capable  of  proof.  The 
Administration,  it  is  said,  will  resist  Sir  F.  Burdett's  motion 
on  Tuesday  next  for  inquiry  into  facts.  If  so  they  will  be 
sure  of  defeat.  All  the  Opposition  with  all  the  Protestants 
on  the  Ministerial  side  of  the  House  being  quite  enough  to 
overwhelm  them,  even  if  Plunkett  should  be  so  indecent 
as  to  vote  against  inquiry  himself. 

'  Last  night  we  had  a  curious  scene  as  to  the  Catholic 
question.  The  Catholics  being  certain  of  defeat,  and  many 
of  the  Opposition  hating  Plunkett  as  a  rat,  accused  him 
of  bad  faith,  and  the  Radicals  (about  a  dozen)  seceded  on 
that  pretence,  to  disguise  the  majority  which  they  antici- 
pated against  the  Roman  Catholics.     At  half  past  twelve, 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     225 

nobody  offering  to  speak,  the  gallery  was  cleared  for  a 
division.  To  prevent  which  Sir  John  Nugent  moved  an 
adjournment,  because,  he  said,  strangers  were  excluded. 
It  was  of  no  use  to  say  that  it  could  not  be  otherwise  when 
the  debate  was  over,  and  all  sorts  of  adjournments  were 
proposed  to  prevent  any  division  upon  the  real  question, 
in  which  the  Roman  Catholics  would  have  been  beaten  by 
about  three  score.  .  .  .   Yours  truly.' 

In  connexion  with  the  year  1823,  it  must  be  noted  as 
rather  remarkable  that  no  allusion  was  made  in  the  corre- 
spondence between  Rickman  and  Southey  to  the  unfor- 
tunate incident  between  the  latter  and  Lamb.  Southey 
had  mildly  censured  the  Essays  of  Elia,  in  an  otherwise 
favourable  Quarterly  review,  for  want  of  religious  feeling. 
Lamb  replied  with  a  very  strong  letter  in  the  London 
Magazine,  which  wholly  took  Southey  by  surprise.  He 
wrote  a  tactful  private  letter  to  Lamb,  who  dissolved  into 
penitence  at  once.  Perhaps,  however,  the  absence  of 
reference  in  the  letters  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  in 
December  Southey  was  in  London. 

During  1824  the  two  friends  were  knit  together  by  a 
new  bond.  In  April  Southey 's  daughter  Bertha  came  to 
stay  with  the  Rickmans  for  fourteen  months  as  a  com- 
panion to  Ann  Rickman,  and  to  acquire  some  accomplish- 
ments which  were  not  possible  in  remote  Keswick.  Rick- 
man's  letters  upon  Bertha  are  truly  precious  pieces  of 
comment. 

■  6^  July  1824. 

'  Miss  Bertha  S.  I  assure  you  improves  fast,  both  in 
her  good  looks,  and  strength  of  both  kinds.  As  to  the 
timidity,  which  you  speak  of  as  her  characteristic,  no  more 
remains  than  the  playful  memory  of  it.  Upon  receiving 
your  last,  I  thought  of  a  good  experimentum  crucis. 
W.  C.  R.  has  just  come  home  for  his  holidays.  He  was 
to  see  the  representation  of  the  battles  of  Ligny,  Quatre 
Bras,  and  Waterloo  at  Astley's — the  best  spectacle  ever 
p 


226    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

produced,  the  actors  being  Waterloo  men  mostly  of  the 
Guards,  above  100  infantry ;  the  Cavalry  50  of  the 
equestrian  troop,  and  plenty  of  artillery.  The  actions 
being  fiercely  contested,  there  is  much  gunpowder  spent, 
even  cannons  fired  on  the  stage.  All  dreadful  to  Bertha, 
when  she  saw  it  by  some  chance,  a  month  since.  So  I  told 
W.  C.  R.  to  choose  his  party,  and  said  nothing,  beyond 
asking  at  dinner  time,  who  was  going  ?  And  among  the 
volunteers  was  enumerated  Miss  B.  S.  who  enjoyed  it  as 
much  as  anybody,  and  said,  "  She  saw  it  all."  Moreover, 
as  she  had  professed  her  dread  of  going  in  a  boat  on  the 
Thames,  I  gave  her  the  option  of  so  moving  to  St.  Paul's 
this  morning  ;  and  heard  not  a  word  of  repugnance  or  of 
terror.  If  at  St.  Paul's  she  did  not  go  up  to  the  ball,  so 
did  not  Miss  A.  R.,  and  they  are  both  too  tall  for  the 
experiment,  which  cannot  be  achieved,  without  aid  for 
guiding  the  feet  from  below.  She  is  not  very  fond  of  being 
taught  musick  and  dancing,  but  submits  with  a  good  grace, 
and  improves  in  both. 

*  We  go  from  London  to-morrow — to  stay  a  fortnight  at 
a  farm-house — and  afterwards  in  the  island  of  Portsea — 
the  first  of  the  time  including  hay-making  and  the  cherry 
season. 

'  Miss  B.  S.  anticipated  (as  well  as  journeying  in  the 
abstract,)  with  much  pleasure,  and  I  doubt  not  will  like 
Portsea  equally  well  afterwards.  Farewell,  I  am  busy 
enough  packing  necessaries,  and  writing  letters  and  leaving 
instructions  on  departing,  but  could  not  go  with  a  clear 
conscience  without  saying  thus  much  of  Bertha,  who  is  a 
favourite  with  everybody.' 

The  second  letter  contains  the  announcement  that 
Rickman  was  building  himself  a  country  house  near 
Portsmouth.  His  first  place  of  villeggiatura  had  been 
Epsom,  where  a  house  had  been  taken  annually  since 
Willy  had  suffered  from  the  croup.  They  had  also  fre- 
quently visited  the  farm  belonging  to  Rickman's  brother 
at  Chidham  in  Sussex.     Thenceforward,  all  holidays  were 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    227 

spent  at  Portsmouth,  where  Rickman  found  it  very  con- 
venient to  retire,  even  in  winter,  to  recover  from  the  effects 
of  overwork. 

'  Chidham,  8th  September  1824. 

'  We  are  not  at  Portsmouth  yet,  but  are  to  be  there  early 
next  week.  I  do  not  know  whether  you  are  aware  of 
part  of  our  projected  occupation, — the  fitting  up  a  house 
now  in  shell  (as  the  builders  speak),  for  I  find  by  experience 
that  my  autumn  half-year  cannot  be  spent  in  desolated 
Westmr.  nor  elsewhere  with  satisfaction,  unless  in  so 
fixed  a  place,  as  to  find  my  books  etc.  about  me  ;  and  all 
things  are  disregarded  at  Westmr.  (except  the  purpose  of 
business)  during  the  Session ;  therefore,  and  for  other  causes, 
I  have  built  me  an  house,  and  we  are  going  to  reside  next 
door  to  it.  Not  that  it  stands  in  a  street,  but  in  a  shady 
lane,  on  an  half  acre  of  garden  ground,  for  fruit  trees  and 
flowers.  This  you  will  think  well,  and  Bertha  will  tell 
you  more  about  it  soon,  she  being  endowed  with  a  due 
share  of  enquiry  and  observation.  Financially  speaking,  you 
are  to  understand,  that  the  interest  of  money  has  so  fallen 
as  to  render  house-building  not  imprudent.  For  instance, 
if  I  spend  £3000  in  house  and  furniture,  I  am  but  £100  a 
year  poorer,  and  save  more  summer  house  rent  than  that. 

'  Of  our  tarrying  8  or  9  weeks, — we  are  at  Mrs.  Rickman 's 
birth  place,  guests  of  her  brother,  who  now  cultivates  as 
much  of  his  father's  land  as  is  near  the  house  :  with  what 
effect,  Bertha's  inclosed  MS.  will  inform  you.  Large 
inferences  are  deducible,  as  you  will  see,  but  the  facts  were 
put  together  for  Bertha's  use,  she  having  full  experience 
in  hay-making,  and  harvest  (just  finished)  and  acquaintance 
with  the  cows,  calves  and  pigs.  To  the  latter  especially  in 
the  form  of  bacon  and  pork,  she  seems  most  partial. 
Besides  this  knowledge  there  is  a  poney  absolutely  without 
volition,  who  goes  just  as  fast  and  just  as  slow  as  the  rider 
pleases,  and  starts  at  nothing.  By  means  of  this  animal, 
Bertha  has  practised  riding  enough  to  go  through  life  with 
her,  and  as  she  and  A.  R.  are  fond  of  this  exercise,  which 


228     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

puts  to  flight  head-ache,  the  poney  (hight  Victor)  goes  to 
Portsmouth  with  us.  We  live  here  with  somewhat  of 
the  ancient  frugality  of  the  farm  house — "Waste  not, 
want  not," — a  good  ingredient  in  the  happiness  of  future 
life,  which  Bertha  will  not  let  escape  her  ;  she  being  as 
Milton  said  with  other  meaning,  in  polemic  pun — very 
monger  a — and  is  become  I  daresay  very  rich  in  country- 
life  imagery,  for  after  use  ;  so  that  the  time  here  has  been 
well  spent,  though  so  much  of  it  was  not  intended  to  be  so 
appropriated.  At  Portsmouth  other  points  of  knowledge 
may  be  pursued  with  advantage  ;  ships  and  fortifications 
we  are  sure  of,  society  of  all  sorts  q.s.,  and  they  say  a  good 
drawing  master.  In  musick  Miss  B.  S.  is  much  improved, 
and  she  holds  herself  erect  at  all  times  as  much  as  Mrs.  R. 
desires.  Of  course,  you  expect  her  to  be  liable  to  innocent 
impulses.  I  do  not  know  that  I  can  say  anything  unfavour- 
able of  her,  except  perhaps  in  a  point  of  every  day  good 
manners.  I  am  not  sure  she  would  not  in  after  life  lessen 
kind  feelings  and  intentions  sometimes,  by  not  seeming  to 
thank  cordially  for  any  little  proffered  kindness  for  which 
she  has  not  at  the  moment  occasion,  or  will  to  avail  of  it. 
Thus  far  of  the  new  house  of  Chidham,  and  of  B.  S.' 

These  kindly  remarks  were  duly  forwarded  by  Southey 
to  Miss  Bertha,  with  injunctions  to  mend  her  manners. 

In  1825  the  question  of  Catholic  relief,  which  has  already 
appeared  more  than  once  in  Rickman's  letters,  became 
really  acute.  Since  Pitt's  resignation  in  1801  the  cause  had 
been  resolutely  pushed  by  its  supporters.  From  1805 
onwards  motions  in  support  of  the  Catholic  claims  were 
frequently  made  in  both  Houses ;  Grattan,  Grenville, 
Burdett  and  Canning  were  the  leading  supporters  ;  Eldon, 
Peel  and  Wellington  were  in  opposition.  In  1812,  after 
Liverpool  had  succeeded  Perceval,  though  the  question 
was  left  open  in  the  Cabinet,  Canning  carried  a  motion 
pledging  the  House  to  consider  the  question  in  the  next 
session  ;  and  in  1813  a  bill  for  the  removal  of  Catholic 
disabilities  passed  its  second  reading.     It  was,  however, 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     229 

wrecked  in  committee  by  the  opposition  of  Speaker  Abbot. 
In  1817  the  motion  for  relief  was  discussed  at  some  length, 
and  defeated  by  twenty-four.  Two  years  later  Grattan, 
after  a  great  speech,  reduced  that  majority  to  two. 
Finally,  in  1821,  a  comprehensive  measure  for  Catholic 
relief  passed  the  Commons  by  a  majority  of  nineteen, 
though  the  uncompromising  hostility  of  the  Duke  of 
York  and  Eldon   ruined  its  chance  in  the  Lords.     From 

1821  onwards,  therefore,  it  was  known  that  it  was  only 
the  Lords  from  whom  successful  opposition  was  to  be 
feared.  An  important  factor  in  the  question  was  the 
disturbed  state  of  Ireland  since  the  Union.  The  Habeas 
Corpus  Act  was  suspended  in  1803  after  Emmet's 
rebellion,  and  in  several  years  before  1817.  Violence  and 
outrage  were  common,  and  it  was  probably  this  state  of 
things  which  prevented  the  cause  of  the  Catholics  becoming 
a  really  popular  cause  in  England.     Of  Canning's  bill  in 

1822  enabling  Catholic  peers  to  vote,  of  the  quarrel  between 
Canning  and  Brougham,  and  of  Plunket's  fiasco  in  1823 
I  have  already  spoken.  In  1823  the  Catholic  Associa- 
tion, which  practically  usurped  the  functions  of  government 
in  Ireland,  was  founded  by  O'Connell  and  Sheil.  This 
Association  was  not  suppressed  by  Lord  Wellesley,  the 
lord-lieutenant,  but  that  it  should  be  suppressed  was 
strongly  held  in  the  House.  A  bill  for  its  suppression  wa3 
introduced  in  1825  and  commanded  large  majorities  in 
both  Houses.  Burdett,  nevertheless,  moved  a  new  resolu- 
tion for  Catholic  relief  on  March  1,  which  was  carried  by 
a  small  majority.  A  relief  bill  was  promptly  introduced 
and  read  a  second  time.  This  was  the  position  when  on 
April  4  Rickman  wrote  to  Southey.  His  eighteen  months 
in  Ireland  had  engendered  a  firm  hatred  in  his  Saxon  mind 
for  all  things  Irish,  as  will  be  seen. 

'  4  April  1825. 

* .  .  .  I  think  if  the  R.C.  do  not  carry  their  point  this 
year  they  will  in  the  next  Session.  There  is  a  kind  of 
wearisomeness  in  being  always  on  the  defensive,  modern 


230     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

liberality  not  permitting  the  use  of  such  weapons  as  cut 
deep,  unless  on  the  liberal  side  of  the  argument.  Hence 
it  is  that  Brougham  does  prudently  in  venturing  to  use  his 
tomahawk  without  means  of  self-defence.  It  is  not  per- 
mitted to  say  that  you  do  not  oppose  the  Irish  R.C.  quasi 
R.C.  simply,  but  as  barbarians,  and  therefore  under  the 
domination  of  their  priesthood  as  much  as  Europe  was  in 
the  time  of  the  Crusades.  Not  as  R.C.  simply,  but  as 
savages  who  less  than  30  years  since  commenced  a  massacre 
with  as  hearty  a  good  will  as  did  their  forefathers  in  1641, 
and  who  give  proofs  from  time  to  time  that  they  are  not 
unready  for  another  when  occasion  shall  serve.  To  me 
it  is  strange  that  nobody  observes  in  a  lucid  manner,  that 
liberality,  not  being  justice,  must  always  be  injustice,  when 
it  steps  beyond  the  disposal  of  your  own  individual  property 
or  rights,  because  what  is  given  to  one  must  be  taken  from 
another,  and  you  have  no  right  to  give  away  what  you 
cannot  give  without  first  taking  from  A.  to  give  to  B. 
This  no  trustee  or  extor.  is  ever  expected,  as  not  empowered, 
to  give,  but  we  surrender  one  thing  after  another  till  we  are 
already  on  the  brink  of  merging  our  national  Church,  as 
Pope  did  in  the  universal  prayer,  and  we  are  approaching 
the  glorious  time  when  it  will  be  every  man's  interest  to  be 
a  felon.  No  man  forsooth  is  to  be  decerned  other  than  an 
innocent  till  found  guilty,  and  then  the  judge,  prosecutor, 
etc.,  are  all  to  conspire  for  remission  of  punishment.  Some 
time  since  I  read  in  a  newspaper,  that  a  woman  who  stole 
cheese  in  the  neighbourhood  of  Covent  Garden,  was  taken 
to  a  police  officer  by  the  shopman,  who  said  his  master  lost 
too  much  not  to  make  an  example.  But  the  woman 
pleading  hunger,  etc.,  which  every  thief  pleads  in  the  case 
of  eatables,  the  magistrate  was  shocked  at  the  inhumanity 
of  the  cheesemonger,  and  the  said  cheesemonger  hastened 
to  town,  disowned  in  the  police  office  the  deed  of  his  trusty 
shopman,  and  found  it  prudent  to  give  the  woman  five 
shillings  because  she  had  been  caught  in  robbing  him  ; 
so  the  woman  was  sure  of  cheese,  or  money,  or  both,  in 
doing  that  for  which  in  better  times  she  would  have  been 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    231 

pilloried  or  whipt  at  the  cart's  tail,  and  imprisoned.     But 
real  punishment  is  obsolete  !  ' 

Burdett's  bill  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  twenty-one 
on  May  10 ;  Peel  at  once  tendered  his  resignation  to 
Liverpool.  Two  days  afterwards,  the  Duke  of  York  made 
a  sensational  and  unconstitutional  speech,  in  which  he 
attributed  George  m.'s  madness  to  agitation  on  the  Catholic 
question,  and  avowed  that  he  would  remain  by  his  principles 
till  his  last  moment  '  whatever  might  be  his  station  in  life.' 
In  spite  of  a  furious  counter-attack  by  Brougham,  the  bill 
was  thrown  out  in  the  Lords  by  forty-eight. 

In  the  summer  Southey  made  a  voyage  in  Holland, 
where  a  festered  foot  kept  him  longer  than  he  expected  in 
Leyden.  He  described  his  sojourn  there,  and  his  acquaint- 
ance with  the  old  poet  Bilderdijk,  in  more  than  one  letter 
to  Rickman.  On  Rickman,  meanwhile,  another  burden 
was  laid,  the  secretaryship  to  the  Commission  for  building 
churches  in  the  Highlands  and  Islands  of  Scotland.  He 
acted  in  this  capacity,  in  which  he  was  again  associated 
with  his  friend  Telford,  till  the  final  report  of  the  Commis- 
sion in  1830.  As  he  said  to  Southey,  he  was  '  cruelly 
oppressed  '  with  work,  and  in  the  late  autumn  he  endea- 
voured to  find  relief  in  a  tour  in  Normandy  to  view,  among 
other  things,  the  Bayeux  tapestry.  Rickman 's  account 
of  this  tour  has  been  preserved  in  part,  and  it  shows  with 
how  little  ease  he  took  relaxation.  His  love  for  precise 
information  led  him  ceaselessly  to  make  notes  and  collect 
measurements  and  tabulate  details  of  all  that  he  saw. 
For  him  the  real  joy  of  indolent,  restful  travelling  was  an 
impossibility.  He  kept  a  precise  journal,  which  was  tran- 
scribed later  and  sent  to  Southey  as  a  return  for  the  latter's 
'  northern  remembrances.'  In  spite  of  his  voyage,  the 
next  year  only  found  Rickman  more  depressed,  and  Southey 
urged  him  in  three  consecutive  letters  to  take  a  rest.  The 
following  are  extracts. 

'  30  March  1826. 

'  I  hope  the  Easter  holydays  have  been,  in  the  language 


232     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

of  the  Saints,  improved  by  you,  that  is  that  you  have 
profited  by  them  to  get  that  refreshment  which  green 
fields  and  an  open  sky  afford  after  long  and  close  attention 
to  business  in  London.  How  you  stand  such  perpetual 
wear  and  tear  of  intellect  is  to  me  marvellous.  I  have  a 
reputation  for  hard-working,  but  had  this  head  of  mine 
been  worked  half  as  much,  or  half  as  intensely  as  yours,  it 
would  have  been  under  the  sod  long  ere  this.  My  bow  is 
never  kept  strung,  and  half  its  time  only  with  a  loose  string, 
which  just  serves  for  letting  fly  a  fool's  bolt.  Idleness  and 
mirthfulness  have  done  much  towards  keeping  me  in  work- 
ing trim.' 

« 10  April  1826. 

'  I  do  not  doubt  that  over-tension  of  mind  has  been  the 
primary  cause  of  the  evil,  and  probably  some  obscure 
bodily  derangement  the  proximate  one.  The  remedy  is 
to  be  sought  in  change  of  circumstances,  scene  and  air. 
.  .  .  Take  a  journey  as  soon  as  Parliament  breaks  up.  .  .  . 
You  want  change  and  sunshine,  and  open  air,  and  motion, 
and  that  sort  of  occupation  which  is  amusement,  and 
which  can  in  no  other  way  be  so  surely  attained  as  by  travel- 
ling in  a  foreign  country.' 

'  30  April  1826. 

'  .  .  .  You  have  had  more  than  your  share  of  this  world's 
business.  I  doubt  whether  any  other  man  who  has  worked 
so  hardly,  has  worked  so  continuously  and  so  long.  Our 
occupations  withdraw  us  all  too  much  from  nearer  and 
more  lasting  concourse.  Time  and  nature — especially  when 
aided  by  any  sorrows — prepare  us  for  better  influences, 
and  when  we  feel  what  is  wanting,  we  seek  and  find  it. 
The  clouds  then  disperse,  and  the  evening  is  calm  and 
clear,  even  till  night  closes.  .  .  .' 

The  result  was  that  in  June  Southey,  Rickman  and 
Henry  Taylor,  the  poet,  took  a  short  tour  in  the  Nether- 
lands.    Of  this  tour  Rickman  compiled  a  laborious  account 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    233 

which  he  sent  as  a  letter  to  Lord  Colchester,  but  it  is  such 
an  uninspiring  document,  that  I  shall  do  best  service  to 
his  memory  by  refraining  from  quotation.  Southey, 
during  his  absence,  was  elected  M.P.  for  Downton  by  the 
influence  of  his  unknown  admirer,  Lord  Radnor.  As  he 
held  a  pension  during  pleasure,  and,  further,  had  no  pro- 
perty qualification,  his  election  was  void.  Nevertheless, 
his  friend,  Sir  Robert  Inglis,  offered  to  purchase  him  a 
landed  estate  yielding  £300  a  year,  if  he  would  consent  to 
sit ;  but  after  due  deliberation  Southey  wisely  decided  to 
remain  at  Keswick,  aloof  from  the  busy  world. 

In  February  1827,  Lord  Liverpool  was  stricken  by  a 
fatal  illness,  and  for  nearly  six  weeks  there  was  no  Prime 
Minister.  The  Cabinet  was  split  into  two  parties  led  by 
Canning  and  Peel  respectively,  and  a  conciliatory  premier 
of  Liverpool's  stamp  was  not  forthcoming.  Finally  the 
King,  irritated  by  the  refusals  of  Wellington  and  Peel, 
decided  to  send  for  Canning.  His  short-lived  ministry 
was  not  a  happy  one.  He  was  in  failing  health,  and 
all  his  Tory  colleagues  but  Huskisson  deserted  him.  The 
general  opinion,  as  may  be  seen  in  Colchester's  Diary,  was 
that  Canning  would  fail  to  form  an  administration  :  that 
which  he  did  form  came  in  for  unsparing  criticism,  and  the 
session  ended  in  dissension  and  dispute.  The  following 
letter,  written  by  Rickman  to  Southey  just  as  Parliament 
met,  contains  an  unwarranted  accusation,  for  Burdett  had 
moved  his  Catholic  relief  motion  before  Canning  took  office, 
and  Canning  had  violently  attacked  the  Master  of  the  Rolls, 
Copley,  who  opposed  the  motion. 

'  3  May  1827. 

£  .  .  .  Certainly  we  have  now  plenty  of  explanation  from 
the  ex-Ministers,  in  which  they  successfully  repel  all  the 
insinuations  cunningly  thrown  out  against  them.  The 
result  of  the  change,  as  far  as  the  R.  Catholic  Qn.  is  con- 
cerned, is  curious.  Its  supporters,  being  in  office  are  not 
to  stir  in  it  nor  to  be  urged  to  it.  Mr.  Brougham  says,  he 
must  be  an  enemy  to  his  country  who  brings  it  into  agita- 


234     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

tion  at  'present — during  the  Reign  of  Geo.  iv.,  I  suppose  ; 
and  the  Protestants  having  the  dangers  visibly  before 
them,  with  Mr.  C.  at  the  head  of  a  R.  Catholic  Cabinet, 
must  now  become  zealous.  The  danger  was  in  the  state 
of  things  which  liberally  permitted  organized  sedition  in 
Dublin  and  outrage  in  Ireland  to  the  R.C.  and  on  the 
Protestants  imposed  silence  and  endurance.  The  R. 
Catholics,  I  expect,  will  be  furious  when  they  understand 
the  effects  of  their  friends  being  in  office,  and  they  will 
find  out  how  little  Mr.  C,  Mr.  Brougham,  or  Sir  F.  Burdett 
really  care  about  them.  A  vexatious  opposition  would 
soon  kill  Canning,  especially  as  he  retains  no  Cabinet 
Minister  in  that  Ho.  Commons  to  answer  for  him  in  his 
absence.  He  has  made  a  mistake  we  suppose  in  sending 
Mr.  Robinson  (Lord  Goodrich)  to  the  Ho.  Peers.  .  .  .' 

On  August  8  Canning  died,  and  the  political  sky  seemed 
to  clear  for  a  moment,  for  Goderich  managed  to  form  another 
Ministry  of  compromise  with  Wellington,  Huskisson, 
Herries  and  Tierney.  But  for  the  moment  a  different 
subject  occupied  the  attention  of  Southey  and  Rickman. 
A  letter  from  Southey  gives  the  details. 

<  15  Aug.  1827. 

'  I  am  about  to  reprint  in  a  separate  form  such  of  my 
stray  papers  as  are  worth  collecting  from  the  Q.  R.  etc.  .  .  . 
Shall  I  print  with  these  your  remarks  upon  the  Economical 
Reformers — in  the  Ed.  Ann.  Register  of  1810 — and  your 
paper  upon  the  poor  laws  ?  Certainly  not,  if  you  have  any 
intention  of  collecting  your  own  papers,  which  I  wish  you 
would  do.  But  if  you  have  no  such  intention,  or  contem- 
plate it  at  an  indefinite  distance,  then  it  would  be  well  that 
so  much  good  matter  should  be  placed  where  it  would  be 
in  the  way  of  being  read  ;  and  there  I  should  like  it  to  be 
as  some  testimony  and  memorial  of  an  intimacy  which  has 
— now  for  thirty  years — contributed  much  to  my  happi- 
ness, and  in  no  slight  degree  to  my  intellectual  progress. 
In  this  case  I  will  take  care  to  notice  that  the  credit  of  these 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    235 

papers  is  not  due  to  me,  either  specifying  whose  they  are, 
or  leaving  that  unexplained  as  you  may  like  best.  .  .  .' 

He  followed  this  by  another  letter — which  I  do  not  quote 
— giving  particulars  of  the  papers  which  he  proposed  to 
republish.  Rickman's  reply  was  one  of  complete  acquies- 
cence. Peel's  bill,  to  which  he  refers,  was  for  the  resump- 
tion of  cash  payments  for  notes  in  1823.  This  date  was 
anticipated  by  the  Bank  of  England  by  two  years. 

•  13  September  1827. 
'  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  letter  of  27th  August 
explanatory  of  your  intended  publication,  of  the  success  of 
which  there  is  good  hope,  everybody  seeming  to  concur  in 
their  approbation,  I  may  say  admiration,  of  your  prose 
works,  so  that  collecting  scattered  parts  together  will 
confer  enlarged  benefits.  I  agree  with  you  that  there  is 
no  occasion  to  alter  any  of  your  opinions  in  the  papers  of 
which  you  give  me  a  list.  Crazy  politics  are  perhaps  some- 
what dormant  at  present,  which  I  attribute  to  the  cowardly 
sort  of  compromise  whereby  the  Parly.  Opposition  have 
been  kept  comparatively  quiet  during  the  last  8  or  10  years, 
the  first  very  remarkable  instance  being  the  sudden  con- 
version of  the  Bullion  Commees.  of  both  Houses,  I  believe 
in  1819,  when  Mr.  Peel,  the  Chairman  of  the  Ho.  Commons 
Commee.,  brought  in  the  Bill  which  the  Bank  of  England 
Directors  afterwards  outran  in  their  natural  eagerness  to 
escape  the  imputations  current  against  them.  The  Whigs 
were  consistent  enough  in  hating  paper  currency,  without 
the  domestic  use  of  which  in  England  their  idol  Bonaparte 
might  perhaps  have  prevailed  ;  but  the  Ministry  should 
not  have  gratified  them  by  turning  off  so  useful  a  servant 
with  disgrace  ;  and  it  is  curious  that  the  absurd  discourage- 
ment of  what  ought  to  be  left  to  regulate  itself,  the  exist- 
ence of  one  pound  notes,  or  any  sort  of  currency  which  the 
public  like,  and  Avhich  is  so  clearly  proved  on  investigation 
to  have  been  the  source  of  the  prosperity  of  Scotland,  that 
the  grand  general  principle  of  the  Whigs  cannot  be  carried 


236     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

into  effect  there  ;    although  if  it  be  not  good  as  a  general 
principle,  it  must  needs  be  good  for  nothing.  .  .  .' 

Southey's  Essays,  Moral  and  Political,  appeared  in  1832, 
but  they  contain  no  acknowledgment  of  Rickman's  work. 
I  have  already  shown  x  that  the  essay  on  '  The  means  of  im- 
proving the  People  '  was  almost  entirely  Rickman's  work. 
But  Southey,  in  his  letter  of  August  27,  also  refers  to  two 
other  passages  for  which  he  was  indebted  to  Rickman,  both 
of  which  appeared  in  the  Edinburgh  Annual  Register. 
The  first  passage  from  the  Annual  Register,  vol.  ii.  part  2, 
pp.  288-294,  is  incorporated  in  Southey's  essay  on  Sir  Francis 
Burdett's  motion  for  Parliamentary  reform.  It  is  a  spirited 
diatribe  against  pure  democracy,  and  against  the  reformers 
for  being  purely  factious  when  opportunities  for  so  much 
peaceful  social  reform  lay  ready  to  their  hands.  The 
second  passage,  from  the  Annual  Register,  vol.  hi.  part  2, 
pp.  211  sqq.,is  incorporated  in  the  essay  '  On  the  Economical 
Reformers.'  It  is  a  defence  of  sinecures  and  high  salaries, 
on  the  ground  that  they  attract  good  men,  and  it  contains 
some  characteristic  paragraphs  upon  the  better  results  of 
paying  civil  servants  by  fees  rather  than  by  fixed  salaries. 
The  germ  of  this  argument  we  have  already  seen  in  one  of 
Rickman's  letters  to  Poole  (see  p.  140).  It  is  curious  that 
this  very  question  arose  in  1833  when  a  committee  inquired 
into  the  offices  of  the  House  of  Commons.  The  old  clerks 
all  concurred  in  their  evidence  that  the  subordinates  worked 
better  when  paid  by  the  piece  than  at  fixed  rates.  On  this 
point,  however,  Rickman's  evidence  was  not  taken.  In  these 
essays  Rickman's  rugged  style  was  polished  by  Southey,  but 
it  is  possible  to  recognise  its  craggy  outlines  in  a  passage, 
which  I  have  taken  from  Southey's  third  essay  : — 

'  No  good  can  ever  be  effected  by  appealing  to  evil 
passions.  He  who  would  benefit  his  country,  instead  of 
fostering  the  discontent  of  the  public  and  pimping  for  their 
suspicions,  should  address  their  generous  feelings,  encourage 

1  See  pp.  197-203. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    237 

their  national  spirit,  and  exalt  their  hopes.  The  methods 
of  reform  .  .  .  are  these.  Institute  parochial  schools,  .  .  . 
extend  your  system  of  colonization,  .  .  .  establish  the 
principle  of  limited  service  in  your  fleets  and  armies,  and 
make  the  reward  of  service  adequate  and  certain  .  .  .  Carry 
on  the  war  with  all  the  might,  all  the  soul,  and  all  the  strength 
of  this  mighty  Empire  ;  you  will  then  beat  down  the  power 
of  France  ;  and  then,  and  not  till  then  .  .  .  the  public 
burden  may  be  lessened.' 

It  is  curious  that  Rickman  refused,  as  he  must  have  done, 
to  let  Southey  make  the  slightest  public  acknowledgment 
of  his  assistance.  It  is  also  interesting  to  see  what  an 
effect  Rickman 's  depression  had  upon  his  convictions.  It 
would  seem  from  the  extract  below  that  he  had  come  round 
to  a  melancholy  justification  of  the  views  on  population 
propounded  by  the  execrated  Malthus. 

'  21  Nov.  1827. 

' .  .  .  I  find  that  if  I  add  annotations  to  the  Poor  Law 
essay,  they  will  be  of  hopeless  character,  as  my  reflections 
have  led  me  to  a  conviction,  that  the  increase  of  poor  rates 
took  place  from  increase  of  kindly  feeling  towards  the 
lower  classes,  which  operated  early  in  your  life- time  and 
mine  upon  magistrates  first,  who  were  disposing  of  other 
people's  money.  Since  that  the  same  feeling  has  operated 
more  extensively,  and  an  imperceptible  reliance  on  this  has 
caused  undue  increase  of  population.  We  cannot  make  the 
poor  comfortable  without  making  them  increase  and  multiply, 
and  as  humanity  is  not  likely  to  retrograde,  poor  rates  will 
not  diminish  ;  perhaps  we  ought  not  to  wish  it.  .  .  .' 

The  quarrel  between  Huskisson  and  Herries  over  the 
appointment  of  a  finance  committee,  and  the  dissensions 
with  the  King  over  the  battle  of  Navarino,  brought  the 
Goderich  Cabinet  to  an  ignominious  downfall  by  the  end  of 
the  year.  On  January  9,  1828,  the  King  sent  for  Wellington, 
and  gave  him  office  on  the  condition  that  Catholic  relief 
was  not  to  be  made  a  cabinet  question.     He  was  joined  by 


238     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

Peel,  Huskisson  and  some  of  Canning's  followers,  a  mixture 
which  was  destined  to  produce  violent  fermentation. 

Rickman  opened  the  year  with  a  strong  comment  on 
Southey's  review  of  Hallam's  History. 

'  2bth  January  1828. 

'  I  have  read  your  review  of  Hallam's  work — miscalled 
(as  it  seems)  a  History  of  England.  He  seems  to  display 
the  thorough-paced  Whig  to  a  degree  of  imprudence  con- 
venient to  the  adversaries  of  his  friends.  As  they  were  in 
the  beginning,  they  are  now,  and  I  suppose  ever  will  be, 
self-seekers,  the  enemies  of  all  good  men  in  general,  and 
of  their  country  in  particular.  I  observe  the  Scottish  in- 
sertion versus  William  in.  inconsistent  with  the  honourable 
mention  of  him  in  the  former  part  of  the  Review.  He  was 
not  an  immaculate  character,  sure  enough,  but  considering 
the  now  displayed  baseness  of  that  age  which  left  materials 
for  other  publicity,  the  actors  thinking  themselves  as  safe  as 
their  ancestors,  behind  an  impenetrable  veil,  considering  that 
all  public  men  from  1660  to  1715  assured  to  themselves  the 
privilege  of  wickedness  in  various  degrees,  Clarendon  him- 
self not  immaculate  (as  Agar  Ellis's  new  book1  proves) 
and  the  Whig  inventors  of  the  Popish  Plot  the  most  in- 
fernal villains  that  ever  disgraced  history,  who  are  and 
must  ever  be  a  national  disgrace  to  us  all — considering 
such  an  age  of  public  men,  W.  in.  is  always  to  be  deemed 
above  par.  I  wish  those  9  interpolated  pages  had  been 
filled  by  a  vivid  condensed  exposure  of  the  Popish  Whigs, 
who  have  never  yet  arrived  at  the  general  detestation  they 
deserve.  You  have  good  reason  to  be  delicate  as  to  the 
name  of  Russell,  and  lucky  it  has  been  for  the  noble  family 
that  they  unknowingly  laid  out  an  anchor  to  windward  at 
Streatham,2  or  they  would  e'er  now  have  drifted  (cum 

1  A  Historical  Inquiry  respecting  the  character  of  Edward  Hyde,  Earl  of 
Clarendon. 

2  Rickman  refers  to  the  fact  that  Southey's  uncle,  Dr.  Hill,  for  whom 
Southey  had  a  great  respect,  was  given  his  living  of  Streatham  by  the 
Duke  of  Bedford. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    239 

multis  aliis  their  Whig  companions)  to  the  shoals  of  eternal 
infamy  to   stick   as   a  beacon   for  the  benefit  of   future 

ages/ 

The  next  letter  refers  to  Wynn's  disappointment  at 
being  passed  over  by  Wellington. 

;  1th  February  1828. 

'  I  received  yours  of  the  2nd  :  and  have  since  tried  to 
learn  more  about  Mr.  Wynn's  state  of  affairs.  I  must 
speak  rather  from  circumstantial  symptoms  than  informa- 
tion, but  I  suspect  that  a  negotiation  existed  whether  or 
not  the  Speaker  would  take  office  as  a  Secretary  of  State 
on  the  recent  changes  :  and  that  he  did  not  accede  upon 
difference  of  terms  as  to  his  peerage  in  that  case  (aiming 
higher  than  a  barony)  and  perhaps  as  to  amount  of  retiring 
pension,  on  quitting  his  present  office,  which  he  has  filled 
ten  years.  While  it  was  supposed  he  would  accept  the 
terms  offered,  I  think  it  likely  that  the  new  Administra- 
tion destined  the  Speakership  for  Mr.  Wynn,  who  could 
not  be  retained  at  the  E.  India  Board  on  account  of  Lord 
Melville  not  returning  to  the  Admiralty. 

'  At  present  I  collect  that  the  Speaker  has  no  thought  of 
quitting  his  office,  unless  perchance  the  D.  of  Wellington 
should  see  cause  for  quitting  his  present  unnatural  office 
and  thereupon  Mr.  Peel  should  become  the  declared  Premier, 
(and  this  is  not  beyond  speculation),  in  which  case  the 
Speaker  (his  intimate  friend)  might  make  his  own  terms, 
or  otherwise  arrange  matters.  At  present  this  cannot  be 
calculated  upon,  and  Mr.  Wynn  is  applying  for  one  of  the 
retiring  pensions  (£3000  per  annum)  as  a  Cabinet  Minister 
of  above  3  years  standing,  pensions  created  by  the  Act  for 
abolition  of  sinecures,  and  the  allowed  number  is  not  yet 
filled  up.  Lord  Goodriche  applies  on  behalf  of  Mr.  Wynn, 
but  I  think  the  D.  of  Wellington  will  not  second  him,  as 
not  only  Mr.  Wynn  was  become  an  efficacious  friend  of 
Canning's,  but  also  by  some  miscalculation  connected  his 
official  existence  with  that  of  Lord  Lansdowne,  an  over- 


240     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

rated  Whig.  Nobody  seems  to  feel  satisfied  of  the  stability 
of  the  present  Government  :  the  affair  of  Navarino,  which 
of  course  delights  the  Liberals,  and  the  Whitehall  Window 
Question,  whether  General  Burton  is  really  to  go  as  Governor 
to  Canada,  hanging  up  all  surmise  in  suspense.  Deus 
aliquis  viderit  /  '  .   .  . 

Wellington  was  embarrassed  early  in  the  year  by  a 
quarrel  with  Huskisson,  and  by  the  strong  dissent  of  the 
Whigs  from  his  condemnation  of  Codrington's  action  at 
Navarino.  His  first  reverse  was  the  success  of  Lord  John 
Russell  in  carrying  his  bill  for  the  repeal  of  the  Test  and 
Corporation  Acts,  and  in  May  Huskisson  and  the  other 
Canningites  resigned  on  the  question  of  the  disfranchised 
borough  of  East  Retford.  The  question  of  Catholic  relief 
had  not  been  prominent  during  the  short  administrations  of 
Canning  and  Goderich,  but  after  the  success  of  Lord  John 
Russell  another  motion  on  the  subject  was  brought  forward 
by  Burdett,  which  was  carried  by  a  majority  of  six.  Then 
all  men  were  electrified  by  the  Clare  election.  Vesey  Fitz- 
gerald, who  became  president  of  the  Board  of  Trade  on 
Grant's  resignation,  offered  himself  for  re-election  at  Clare. 
He  was  a  popular  landlord,  and  held  to  be  certain  of  support 
by  the  other  landlords  and  the  forty-shilling  freeholders. 
O'Connell  amazed  the  political  world  by  standing  against 
him.  The  forty-shilling  freeholders  deserted  the  landlord 
for  the  priest  in  a  body,  and  the  Catholic  champion 
O'Connell  was  elected.  The  Clare  election  made  Catholic 
relief  inevitable.  We  now  know  that  Peel  shortly  afterwards 
made  up  his  mind  to  give  way,  because  in  his  view  civil  war 
was  the  only  alternative.  But  the  public  at  large  knew 
nothing  of  the  impending  volte-face  of  the  Tory  leader  ; 
they  were  chiefly  pre-occupied  with  the  fresh  proof  of  the 
shocking  state  of  affairs  in  Ireland.  Thus  on  Nov.  12 
Rickman  wrote  to  Southey  : — 

'  To  be  sure  absenteeism  is  a  crying  evil,  but  if  you  ask 
one  of  those  to  reside  in  his  country  on  his  estate,  the  answer 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    241 

always  is,  he  would  rather  lose  it.  So  that  the  turbulence 
of  the  people  drives  away  the  landlords,  and  the  absence 
of  these  reacts  upon  the  barbarism  of  the  Irish.  An  un- 
pleasant reciprocity,  but  inevitable  until  this  Island  shall 
have  been  under  water  for  half  an  hour.  You  may  very 
well  interpolate  a  pamphlet  into  your  R.C.  article  if  Murray 
thinks  fit — and  Protestant  ears  are  more  open  than  they 
were.  Plunkett's  insidious  law,  and  O'Connell's  impudence 
have  caused  a  revulsion,  so  that  things  are  in  a  much 
better  state  than  if  neither  one  or  the  other  had  existed  : 
especially  considering  that  nothing  but  Protestant  spirit 
was  left  for  our  defence,  Lord  P.  [Plunket]  having  R. 
Catholicized  the  army,  which  at  a  distance  in  Lancashire, 
etc.,  overawes  what  it  could  not  resist  in  contact. 

'  I  think  political  economists  are  dying  a  natural  death, 
and  I  am  collecting  poor  law  matter,  though  without  any 
particular  encouragement.  I  have  been  thinking  that 
there  is  a  good  room  for  a  new  Laputa,  where  the  said  p. 
economists  might  have  a  mansion  with  those  who  have 
disturbed  the  nation  with  new  weights  and  measures  such 
as  are  a  glorious  defiance  of  utility — the  North  Pole 
expeditions,  Dr.  Gall  and  Spurtzeim  *  would  be  there,  and 
other  worthies,  if  one  turned  one's  mind  to  recollections  of 
that  kind. 

'  The  Govt,  are  very  much  like  their  predecessors,  without 
strong  intentions  of  any  kind,  who  would  yield  to  the  R.C. 
if  the  Protestants  had  not  stirred.  So  the  Turks  seem  to 
profit  and  improve  from  the  attack  made  by  Russia ; 
nothing  else  could  have  done  so  much  for  them.  Their 
case  is  whimsically  like  that  of  the  Irish  Protestants. 
Lethargy  at  an  end  with  both.  .  .  . 

'  W.  C.  R.  is  to  go  to  Ch.  Ch.  Oxford  and  to  take  orders, 
if  he  alter  not  his  mind.  He  is  of  a  quiet  spirit  and  fit  for 
a  quiet  profession.  .  .  .' 

Southey  was  engaged  in  writing  a  Quarterly  article  against 

1  Dr.  Gall  and  Dr.  Spurzeim  were  the  founders  of  the  science  of  phren- 
ology. 

Q 


242    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

the  Catholic  claims,  for  which  Rickman  had  sent  him  one 
or  two  long  letters  full  of  historical  information.  He 
received  the  sum  of  £150  for  the  essay,  £50  more  than  usual. 
Rickman  had  also  been  meditating  an  attack  on  the  economic 
school  of  Macculloch,  the  '  egregious  absurdities  '  of  whom, 
wrote  Southey,  '  no  man  is  so  capable  of  demolishing  as 
yourself.'  The  final  paragraph  in  the  above  letter  is  inter- 
esting, considering  his  determination,  expressed  in  his 
will,  that  his  son  should  not  enter  the  Church.  Southey, 
in  his  answer,  rejoiced  that  Rickman's  son,  whom  he  always 
called  the  '  charioteer  '  from  his  fondness  for  driving,  had 
the  intention  of  taking  orders. 

<  24  Nov.  1828. 
'I  am  glad  that  my  young-old  friend  the  charioteer  is 
inclined  to  a  profession  which  seems  to  me  of  all  others 
that  in  which  a  well-minded  man  will  find  most  reason  to 
be  satisfied  with  his  choice.  I  know  not  any  person  who 
can  or  ought  to  be  happier  than  a  clergyman  who  is  not 
dependent  on  his  profession  for  a  maintenance,  and  is 
therefore  exempt  from  all  anxieties  about  preferment,  and 
may  refuse  to  fix  himself  in  an  unhealthy  spot  or  a  place 
disagreeable  to  him  on  any  other  account.  That  the 
Ch.  of  England  will  have  its  existence  set  upon  the  die 
in  our  children's  time  I  think  is  but  too  probable  :  but  if 
it  be  so,  his  condition  will  not  be  the  worse  for  belonging 
to  it.' 

Rickman  ended  the  year  by  writing  the  obituary  of  his 
old  friend  Luke  Hansard,  whom  he  had  defended  earlier  in 
the  year  before  a  committee  of  the  House.  His  notice 
appeared  in  the  Gentleman 's  Magazine  for  December.  His 
praise  is  perhaps  conventionally  expressed,  but  it  is  a 
sincere  tribute  of  undisguised  friendship  and  admiration. 

After  bringing  the  strongest  influence  to  bear  on  the 
King,  Peel  and  Wellington  succeeded  in  wringing  his  consent 
to  the  introduction  of  a  measure  of  Catholic  relief.  The 
King's  Speech  contained  some  indications  of  such  a  course, 
and   Peel   resigned   his   seat  for   Oxford  University.     He 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     243 

failed  to  secure  re-election,  and  was  subsequently  returned 
for  Westbury.  On  March  5  he  moved  a  resolution  in  favour 
of  Catholic  relief  in  a  great  speech.  Rickman  wrote  on 
that  night  to  Southey. 

'  5  March  1829. 

'  A  bright  day  precedes  a  stormy  evening  !  Mr.  Peel 
however  does  not  venture  to-day  further  than  a  resolution 
similar  to  the  K.'s  Speech,  in  general  terms.  However 
he  is  to  tell  us  what  our  masters  intend  ;  against  which  I 
expect  both  parties  will  protest  to-day,  and  vote  hereafter. 
There  is  a  subdolous  scheme  to  introduce  the  concession 
in  one  Bill,  the  restrictions  in  another  ;  so  that  the  first 
might  pass  without  the  last.  A  sad  mishap,  would  say 
Mr.  Peel  and  Co.  !  But  we  are  not  quite  at  their  mercy  ; 
the  Ho:  Lords  we  know  are  not  so  recreant  as  to  be 
managed  thus.  Yet  perhaps  it  may  be  tried.  .  .  .  Your 
petition  was  presented  yesterday,  and  was  a  good  text  for 
Sir  R.  H.  Inglis  to  descant  upon,  in  denying  the  universal 
stupidity  and  un  argumentative  obstinacy  of  all  the  Anti- 
Caths.,  largely  insisted  on  by  that  respectable  orator,  Sir 
J.  Mackintosh.' 

This  letter  was  soon  followed  by  another. 

'  9  March  1829. 

'  The  demons,  after  three  days  intestine  war,  have  agreed 
to  throw  over  the  40s.  men,1  to  which  abandonment  the 
Opps.  and  R.  Caths.  could  have  no  real  objection  ;  their 
vows  and  promises  to  defend  these  wretched  slaves  in  a 
privilege  bootless  to  the  possessor  kicking  the  beam,  the 
D.  of  W.  being  imperative.  So  I  suppose  the  confederates 
will  go  on  swimmingly,  though  the  Protestants  numbered 
about  30  on  the  divn.  beyond  expectation,  and  make  a 
better  fight  than  was  expected  of  them.  I  have  begun  .  .  . 
a  sketch  of  Irish  history  from  the  flood  to  1829  ;  Celts, 
Kimbers,  and  Gaels  (Gauls)  (the  last  the  generic  name) 

1  The  disfranchisement  of  the  40s.  freeholders  was  the  price  paid  by 
O'Connell  for  Catholic  relief. 


244    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

1  take  to  be  incapable  of  mutual  government,  I  mean  by- 
juries  etc.  ;  a  slave  race  who  must  be  governed  by  absolute 
power,  and  better  for  them  if  not  by  any  of  their  own 
breed.  So  I  arrive  at  the  fitness  of  military  law  in  Erin, 
because  no  other  law  can  really  exist  there.  An  unhappy 
experiment  of  James  I.,  who  was  No.  1  of  the  Liberals  in 
this  particular,  gave  them  juries,  and  the  massacre  of  1640, 
Cromwell's  just  severity,  the  war  of  1688-90,  all  failed  to 
take  away  that  misapplied  privilege,  because  they  could 
not  distinguish  the  natives  from  the  new  settlers  at  these 
times  of  just  severity. 

'  P.S. — Mr.  Peel  seems  surprised  that  every  body  does  not 
turn  with  him,  specially  that  his  father  says  he  will  give  him 
no  more  than  the  £12,000  a  year  he  has  settled  on  him  ; 
and  his  wife  is  said  to  adhere  to  the  opinions  which  she 
learned  from  the  arguments  of  the  said  R.  P.  forgotten  only 
by  himself.  Yes,  his  is  a  mere  placekeeping  affair  ;  the  D. 
of  W.  having  Huskisson  in  his  pocket,  if  he  yielded  not.' 

The  Catholic  Relief  Bill  passed  the  House  of  Commons 
by  nearly  two  hundred,  and  on  April  4,  when  Rickman 
again  wrote,  it  passed  second  reading  in  the  Lords  by  a 
hundred  and  five. 

' 4th  April  1829. 

'  .  .  .  The  Lords  are  debating  a  third  night  upon  the 
R.  Cath.  Bill.  They  are  as  bad  as  the  Commons  in  yielding 
to  undue  influence,  and  the  business  of  the  Bps.  moves  one's 
bile.  Yet  when  the  first  of  their  apostasy  is  seen,  they 
will  not  be  unfrocked. 

'  I  reconcile  myself  well  with  the  experiment  of  the  R. 
Cath.  Bill,  thanking  God  it  is  not  of  my  trying,  yet  not 
sorry  it  should  be  tried  at  the  peril  of  those  base  conspirators, 
who  have  made  concession  almost  necessary — or  at  least  the 
alternative  with  civil  war — by  encouraging  the  R.  Cath. 
and  discouraging  the  Protestants  in  Ireland,  recruiting 
ready  made  rebels  into  the  army,  etc.  If  the  experiment 
fails,  as  I  expect,  may  we  not    hope  to  see    Liberalism 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    245 

repudiated  even  in  our  time  ?  And  is  that  hope  worth 
nothing  ?  The  contradictory  arguments  of  the  conspirators 
as  to  the  no  danger  and  the  great  danger  of  these  R.  Caths. 
is  worthy  of  a  bad  cause,  which  in  point  of  argument  was 
never  so  low  as  this  year.  And  the  hero  of  Waterloo  to 
profess  that  he  yielded  from  dread  of  a  bugbear,  of  a 
ragged  mob  of  his  countrymen.  I  say  again  the  R.  Caths. 
look  to  ulterior  objects — so  do  I  with  pleasure.  The 
Protestants  will  be  on  their  guard,  and  put  them  down.' 

I  quote  two  other  comments  by  Rickman  on  the  session 
of  1829. 

'  11th  June  1829. 

' .  .  .  The  Session  of  Parlt.  is  arrived  at  termination  of 
business,  but  the  Prorogation  comes  not,  under  colour  of 
some  London  Bridge  question  in  the  Ho.  Lords.  In  fact 
the  Protestants  will  not  vote  with  Peel,  and  the  Opps. 
laugh  at  the  forlorn  fate  of  their  apostate,  who  has  thus 
served  6  months  in  office  dearly.  As  the  result,  Govt, 
cannot  command  100  votes  in  the  Ho.  Commons  (even  in  a 
Buckingham  Palace  question)  and  the  D.  of  Wellington 
seems  to  hope  to  make  a  patch-work  Ministry  by  concil- 
iating some  of  the  Whigs,  and  a  few  great  families.  But 
patch-work  never  yet  answered  well,  and  the  Cabinet 
maker  will  probably  find  his  work  crack  upon  the  first 
wear  and  tear,  dissolve  the  Parlt.  and  try  a  Tory 
Administration  hereafter.  This  is  the  future  ;  at  present, 
we  suppose  Parlt.  is  not  prorogued,  for  the  sake  of  new 
writs  upon  promotion  of  those  who  are  expected  now  to 
have  foot  in  stirrup.  .  .  .' 

•  7  July  1829. 

'  .  .  .  I  wish  we  had  a  new  Secretary  for  the  Home 
Department  ...  for  besides  Peel's  imbecil  (sic)  concession 
and  Liberality  habits,  his  grandeur  is  become  such  that 
no  man  (not  a  slave)  can  work  with  him  or  for  him  ;  and  no 
other  Cabinet  Minister  cares  to  encroach  upon  the  province 
of  the  Leader  (God  help  us)  of  the  Ho.  Comm.  .  .  / 


246     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

The  two  letters  with  which  I  close  this  chapter  are  con- 
cerned chiefly  with  a  co-operative  scheme  which  was 
started  at  Brighton,  and  in  which  Southey's  friend  Gooch 
and  Southey  himself  contrived  to  interest  Rickman  very 
strongly.  He  found  on  visiting  the  headquarters  that  it 
was  not  a  satisfactory  venture,  but  his  letters  show  that 
his  views  on  social  reforms,  if  conservative,  were  not 
unenlightened. 

'  14  July  1829. 

c  I  thank  you  for  your  intelligence  de  Cooperatoribus 
and  propose  to  visit  them.  .  .  .  Labour  in  common  produces 
idleness  in  all,  or  injustice  to  the  industrious,  which  they 
will  not  tolerate.  But  under  modifications,  whereby 
individual  labour  is  rewarded  (especially  by  task  work) 
I  think  the  co-partnership  contrivance  not  impossible, 
and  it  cannot  but  be  beneficial,  if  it  open  such  prospect 
as  to  encourage  thrift  and  accumulation  among  the 
numerous  classes  of  society.  I  have  no  doubt  the  world 
might  become  a  place  comfortable  for  all,  if  (as  you  will 
observe)  the  good  would  be  as  active  and  zealous  as  the 
bad.  At  present,  for  lack  of  proper  direction,  efforts  to 
do  good  much  oftener  do  evil.  Witness  the  lady's  bazaar 
and  sundry — id  genus — exuberances  of  blundering  bene- 
volence. If  I  composed  Canons  of  Benevolence,  they  would 
appear  repulsive  and  severe.  The  down-hill  path  of  alms- 
giving and  patronage  is  pleasant  to  the  individuals  who 
give  and  who  receive,  cruelly  mischievous  to  the  com- 
munity in  an  enlarged  view  of  consequences.  Now  the 
same  mind  which  disposes  to  kindness  and  benevolence 
will  not  endure  discipline  and  contradiction  in  what  seems 
laudable  zeal,  and  therefore  I  think  it  is  that  evil,  which  is 
always  a  down-hill  path  (patet  janua  Ditis),  prevails  so  fear- 
fully. However  if  I  could  first  rectify  the  administration 
of  the  poor  law?,  in  which  the  wasteful  expense  is  not  in 
my  opinion  the  greatest  part  of  the  evil,  I  should  look 
afield  for  further  work. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     247 

'  Miss  Lamb  is  said  to  be  convalescent ;  p.  interim  he 
is  here  visiting  me  and  enjoys  himself  well.' 

Those  to  whom  all  Lamb's  goings  and  comings  are  of 
interest  will  see  that  the  last  paragraph  supplies  a  fact, 
which  was  hitherto  unknown.  The  Lambs  were  now  at 
Enfield,  and  on  May  3rd  Mary  was  taken  ill,  and  did  not 
return  home  till  the  end  of  September.  Lamb's  loneliness 
is  described  in  a  very  pathetic  letter  written  on  July  25  x  to 
Bernard  Barton,  in  which  he  says  that  he  spent  ten  days 
of  his  loneliness  '  at  a  sort  of  a  friend's  house,  but  it  was 
large  and  straggling — one  of  the  individuals  of  my  old 
long  knot  of  friends,  card-players,  pleasant  companions — 
that  have  tumbled  to  pieces  into  dust  and  other  things.' 
So  far  from  '  enjoying  himself  well '  Lamb  was  in  the  last 
stage  of  depression.  London,  empty  of  his  old  friends, 
was  not  what  it  was,  and  it  is  to  be  feared  that  Rickman, 
with  his  political  preoccupations,  was  changed  too.  Never- 
theless, it  is  interesting  to  know  who  was  Lamb's  friend  of 
those  ten  days. 

Southey  in  his  reply  sent  a  message  to  Lamb  : — 

'  Remember  me  most  kindly  to  Lamb,  and  tell  him  that 
the  Every  Day  and  Table  Books  have  given  me  a  great 
liking  for  his  friend  Hone,  whom  I  would  shake  hands 
with  heartily  if  he  came  in  my  way,  or  lay  in  mine.' 

Co-operation  and  politics  fill  the  last  letter. 

■  25  Sept.  1829. 

' .  .  .  He  who  seeks  to  enter  into  a  cooperation  circle, 
must  be,  or  must  mean  to  become,  a  thrifty  character  with 
all  the  due  appendages  of  respectability  in  his  station  of 
life  :  because  the  new  punishment  of  expulsion  which  he 
thus  creates  against  his  future  misconduct  will  weigh  upon 
his  mind  constantly — in  time  to  the  creation  of  propriety 
in  all  his  behaviour.  .  .  .  Cooperation  would  also  produce 

1  Lucas,  WorJcs  of  G.  and  M.  Lamb,  vol.  vii.  p.  813. 


248    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

the  same  sort  of  benefit  as  arises  (without  being  generally 
perceived)  in  every  large  family  of  children,  wherein  the 
natural  watchfulness  of  all  for  the  benefit  of  each  counter- 
balances the  seeming  difficulty  in  providing  for  many.  .  .  . 
The  frequent  meetings  of  cooperators  would  soon  lead  to 
such  rapid  intelligence  of  openings  for  the  entrance  into 
life  of  suitable  aspirants,  as  would  preclude  those  who 
chuse  to  live  in  the  dark  corners  of  the  map  from  equal 
chance  :  whereupon  they  would  become  worthy  candidates 
for  admission,  and  universal  society  would  rely  upon  good 
behaviour.  And  this  is  a  good  large  view  of  benefit,  because 
we  should  no  longer  be  annoyed  by  frequent  crime.  .  .  . 
Another  evil  we  might  abolish,  if  the  lower  orders  in  general 
had  recourse  to  ready  money  payment — the  scandalous 
frauds  resulting  from  the  Insolvent  Debtors'  Court.  .  .  . 

'  I  go  to  town  for  the  Prorogation  of  15th  Oct.  :  as  yet  no 
govt,  exists,  and  I  expect  that  the  Whigs  will  force  the 
D.  of  W.  to  their  terms  of  sharing  very  largely  in  the  power 
he  loves  to  keep  to  himself.  Of  the  Tory  party  he  can  find 
no  representatives  with  whom  to  negotiate ;  for  who 
can  answer  for  another  that  the  conspiracy  whereby  the 
R.  Catholic  question  was  carried  shall  be  forgiven,  that  the 
betrayer  will  not  again  betray  ?  I  send  you  a  curious 
proof  of  the  state  of  things  in  placable  Ireland.  The  R.C.'s 
are  disarming  the  Protestants,  and  thereby  arming  them- 
selves in  the  South  ;  and  as  they  cannot  do  this  in  Ulster, 
they  modestly  petition  Govt,  to  disarm  the  Protestants 
there  for  them.  .  .  .' 

I  omit  a  very  long  letter  written  in  October,  which  is  a 
summary  of  all  Irish  history  for  Southey's  benefit.  By  the 
end  of  1829  the  first  political  crisis  which  the  two  friends 
had  so  long  dreaded  was  over.  Worse  was  to  come.  But 
the  Reform  Bill  needs  a  separate  chapter. 


CHAPTER  VIII 


1830-1832 


Parliamentary  reform — Letters  purely  political — Macaulay's  maiden 
speech — Rickman  the  political  philosopher — Calls  Southey  to  arms — 
'  Monarchy  or  Democracy  ' — The  projected  Colloquies — Rickman's 
outline — Introduction  of  the  Reform  Bill — Rickman  on  the  debate — 
Dissolution — The  second  Bill — An  all-night  sitting — O'Connell's 
Irish  devils — Murray  and  the  Colloquies — The  third  Bill — Wellington's 
failure  to  form  a  ministry — The  Bill  passes — Murray  and  Spottiswoode 
impede  the  Colloquies — Rickman  wishes  to  retire. 

From  1830  till  the  passing  of  the  first  Reform  Bill  the 
interest  of  the  Rickman  and  Southey  correspondence  is 
entirely  political,  and  Rickman's  letters  during  that  period 
seem  to  me  to  be  peculiarly  interesting.  The  Tory  Lord 
Colchester  died  in  1829,  and  the  extant  memoirs  of  the  time, 
with  the  exception  of  Croker's,  are  all  more  or  less  Whig. 
Rickman's  uncompromising  accounts  of  the  stormy  sessions, 
and  of  the  scenes  which  he  himself  witnessed,  supply  more, 
perhaps,  than  Colchester  could  have  given  us — the  reflections 
of  an  intelligent,  if  bigoted,  Tory  upon  the  Reform  move- 
ment, of  which  he  did  not  know  the  inner  political  workings. 
I,  therefore,  only  make  a  passing  reference  here  to  less 
important  topics  that  appear  in  the  letters — Rickman's 
struggle  with  the  Macculloch  school  of  political  economists 
on  the  occasion  of  the  census  of  1831,  his  article  on  co- 
operation for  the  Brighton  Co-operator,  Telford's  building 
of  the  Clifton  suspension  bridge,  the  holiday  in  1830  spent  in 
examining  harbours  with  Telford,  the  education  of  Southey 's 
nephew,  and  a  second  long  visit  of  Bertha  Southey.  Reform 
and  the  projected  Colloquies,  of  which  further  mention 
will  be  made,  take  up  the  whole  field  of  vision. 

249 


250    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

The  movement  for  Parliamentary  reform  had  been  in 
existence  throughout  Rickman's  life,  though  it  had  received 
a  severe  check  from  the  outbreak  of  the  French  Revolution. 
During  the  war  against  France  there  was  a  strong  reaction 
among  the  governing  classes  against  reform,  and  the  frenzied 
outpourings  of  such  men  as  Hunt,  Cobbett  and  Burdett, 
and  the  riots  of  Spa  Fields  and  Peterloo,  however  much 
they  may  have  educated  public  opinion,  only  convinced  the 
governing  classes  that  reform  meant  revolution.  With 
the  advent  of  Canning  and  Lord  John  Russell,  the  agitation 
took  a  calmer  tone.  In  1821  Lord  John  Russell  secured 
the  disfranchisement  of  Grampound,  and  in  1827  East 
Retford  and  Penryn  suffered  the  same  fate.  The  Tories 
were  apt  to  ascribe  the  decrease  of  violent  agitation  to  a 
general  loss  of  interest  in  the  cause,  but  in  fact  the  body 
of  quiet  conviction  was  growing  more  and  more  overwhelm- 
ing. By  the  beginning  of  1830  the  air  was  thoroughly 
charged  :  the  great  time  was  felt  to  be  at  hand  by  the 
reformers,  while  the  Tories  were  uneasy  and  painfully  aware 
of  the  weakness  of  Wellington's  Government.  Rickman's 
letters  up  till  the  dissolution  of  Parliament  in  June  give  a 
very  good  indication  of  the  Tory  nervousness.  Sou  they 
and  he,  sturdy  Britons  both,  felt  that  a  last  struggle  must 
be  made,  and  it  was  Rickman  who  first  suggested  to  Southey 
that  he  should  enter  the  field  in  defence  of  law  and  order. 
The  challenge  was  accepted  with  alacrity,  but  it  was  not 
till  later  that  the  plan  took  shape. 

A  passage  from  a  long  letter  of  Rickman's  on  co-operation 
early  in  the  year  may  be  taken  as  a  preliminary  bugle  call. 

'  Jan.  11,  1830. 

'  .  .  .  The  D.  of  W.  seems  to  be  trying  a  new  system  of 
govt,  by  means  of  the  nominees  of  the  peers  in  the  Ho. 
Comm.,  in  which  he  will  have  so  little  success,  I  guess,  as 
in  attempting  a  military  govt,  at  once.  It  may  issue  indeed 
in  universal  outcry  for  reform  of  Parlt.  and  this  cause  a 
revolution,  which  if  it  happen  at  all  will  be  on  the  democrat 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    251 

side  entirely.     In  all  dangers  however  let  us  keep  a  cheerful 
heart  and  a  good  countenance.  .  .  .' 

Parliament  met  on  February  4,  but  the  session  was 
unimportant,  except  to  display  Wellington's  weakness. 
Political  unions  in  favour  of  reform  were  springing  up  all 
over  the  country,  and  several  reform  motions  were  intro- 
duced, though  defeated,  in  the  House.  On  April  15  the 
King's  illness  was  known ;  on  June  26  he  died,  and 
Parliament  was  prorogued  on  July  23  by  William  iv.  in 
person.  Rickman's  letters  during  the  session  need  little 
comment. 

'Monday  Evening,  29^  March  1830. 

'  We  have  spent  much  time  here  in  long  debates,  and 
have  arrived  at  nothing  useful  or  agreeable.  The  Govt, 
began  the  session  knowing  themselves  to  be  outnumbered, 
and  have  been  steering  their  narrow  course  sometimes 
buffetted,  often  yielding,  and  the  other  day  beaten.  Of 
course  the  Whigs  and  Radicals  profit  by  this,  and  few  days 
pass  without  some  concession  so  that  the  Govt,  must  soon 
to  cease  to  govern  by  influence,  and  we  shall  have  to  choose 
between  arbitrary  power,  and  democracy.  I  do  not  like 
either,  but  the  first  rather  better  of  the  twain.  The  Admini- 
stration are  trying  to  tide  it  over  the  session,  and  will  then 
I  suppose  try  their  luck  with  a  new  Parliament.  But  I 
think  they  will  not  fare  much  better  than  now,  as  trenchant 
arguments  are  not  admissable,  nor  anything  beyond  the 
worn  out  armour  of  sham  defence,  .  .  .  nor  is  it  easy  to  go 
deeper,  to  utter  any  thing  adverse  to  mobbish  prejudices 
being  impossible  as  matters  stand  here.  I  daresay  we  shall 
have  reform  of  Parlt.  triumphant  in  a  twelvemonth.  I 
do  not  know  whether  you  could  invent  any  daring  truth- 
telling  vehicle.  Otherwise  the  prophesies  which  occur  here 
every  evening  as  to  the  growing  power  of  'public  opinion 
will  doubtless  produce  their  own  accomplishment.  I  assure 
you  I  see  all  persons  hampered  in  the  web  of  Liberality 
which  has  now  spread  so  many  cords,  that  no  argument 


252    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

can  be  pursued  to  utterance  without  being  stopped  by 
prudence,  which  is  become  obviously  necessary  to  prevent 
being  stopped  by  clamour  and  hooting.  The  nonsense 
of  free  trade  and  reciprocity  is  still  unchecked,  though  it 
wants  nothing  to  its  overthrow  than  pursuing  the  argu- 
ment of  selfishness,  every  man  taking  care  of  his  own  interest, 
whereby  the  interest  of  all  is  pursued,  and  which  by  no 
means  could  be  obtained  by  the  care  of  all  exerted  in  behalf 
of  individuals.  And  if  you  can  imagine  a  society  of  twenty 
men  in  which  they  very  sensibly  attend  to  their  own 
interest  and  that  of  their  families  and  the  twentieth  thinks 
only  of  reciprocity,  there  would  be  little  doubt  that  the 
last  would  be  ruined,  and  that  without  the  least  blame  to 
the  rest.  The  sooner  ruined  indeed  if  they  played  the 
rogue,  but  ruined  he  must  be  by  their  vigilance  opposed 
to  his  Liberality  and  attention  to  the  interest  of  all.  This 
is  the  true  picture  of  a  State  pursuing  the  phantom  of  free 
trade. 

'  Again  as  affecting  the  internal  trade  (our  mutual 
dealings — about  6  times  as  important  as  foreign  dealings) 
the  folly  and  mismanagement  is  not  less.  The  story  of 
the  Belly  and  Members  ought  to  be  retold.  The  free 
trade  people  set  each  vocation  against  some  other.  The 
abolition  of  the  corn  law  (already  ruinously  weakened)  is 
still  urged  and  no  man  could  here  venture  to  suggest  that 
manufacturers  without  customers  could  not  prosper.  I 
inclose  you  a  whimsical  view  of  their  absurdity,  and  I 
think  there  are  half  a  dozen  other  absurdities  of  the  same 
kind,  all  sacred  and  intangible,  all  surrounded  by  a  halo 
of  sanctity,  of  beastly  error  in  the  mantle  of  philosophy.  I 
am  sick  of  it,  and  I  shall  rebel  when  I  have  time  and  encour- 
agement— and  of  time  I  shall  have  more  henceforth,  having 
got  quit  of  the  Hd.  Roads  and  Cain.  Canal  by  which  I  was 
oppressed.  Of  another  matter.  The  other  day  a  Commn. 
was  appointed  on  the  state  of  the  Irish  Poor,  I  think  intend- 
ing an  investigation  of  the  fitness  of  poor  rates  in  Ireland. 
It  chanced  I  fell  into  conversation  with  Spring-Rice  (their 
Chairman)  who  said   they  must  make  a  great  effort  in 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    253 

Ireland  at  agricultural  improvemt.,  but  could  not  without 
advance  granted  by  the  Government.  This  seems  singu- 
larly impudent  expectation  in  the  sister  nation  which  pays 
no  taxes,  and  I  said,  I  thought  they  ought  to  do  it  on  their 
own  resources,  if  they  were  in  earnest.  He,  who  is  courteous, 
asked  How  ?  I  told  him  that  during  some  long  speech 
evening  I  could  write  evidence  for  his  Commn.,  and  I  have 
done  so,  much  in  the  argument  of  taxing  the  land  for  its 
own  improvemt.,  as  I  think  I  wrote  in  the  vacation  to  you  ; 
but  more  circumstantially,  as  on  a  single  unmixed  subject. 
I  gave  him  this,  which  he  took  as  a  God-send  at  a  dead  lift, 
and  says  he  has  sent  it  to  the  printer  for  the  edification  of 
his  Commn.  ;  If  I  get  a  copy,  I  will  send  it  you,  and  if  it 
does  nothing  else,  I  think  it  will  hinder  any  quacking  in  a 
matter  very  important,  and  only  to  be  rationally  dealt  with 
in  heavy  armour. 

'  The  Whigs,  certainly  the  Whiglings,  expect  office  forth- 
with and  individuals  have  offered  their  services  to  the 
D.  of  W.,  but  what  he  will  do  I  know  not.  He  likes  power 
but  employs  inefficient  instruments,  people  who  neither 
bring  credit  to  his  Govt,  nor  votes.  Yet  we  are  without 
any  hope  of  change  for  the  better,  so  distracted  are  politics 
and  party,  and  the  mob  will  break  in  unless  repelled  by 
police  men  and  bayonets.  Thus  you  have  the  fruit  of  a 
few  long  speeches.  Sir  James  Graham  speaks  very  elo- 
quently but  always  in  the  wrong.' 

The  two  following  extracts — the  first  from  Southey,  the 
second  from  Rickman — allude  to  Macaulay's  maiden  speech 
which  was  made  on  Apri1  5  for  the  second  reading  of 
Grant's  bill  for  the  remission  of  Jewish  disabilities.  Rick- 
man's  allusion  to  Sierra  Leone  is  explained  by  Zachary 
Macaulay's  having  been  the  first  governor  of  Sierra  Leone, 
which  was  founded  by  Wilberforce  and  others  for  liberated 
slaves.  On  leaving  Sierra  Leone,  Zachary  Macaulay  set 
up  as  an  Africa  merchant,  in  which  business  the  connexion 
with  Sierra  Leone  was  doubtless  of  considerable  benefit. 


254    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

1  Ap.  13,  1830. 

'  .  .  .  You  have  a  young  cockatrice  in  Bab  Macaulay, 
who  is  in  league  with  the  sinners  by  principle  (if  the  abnega- 
tion of  all  on  which  good  principles  can  rest  may  be  so 
called)  and  with  the  Saints  by  blood.  .  .  .' 

'  Ap.  20,  1830. 

'  .  .  .  Young  Mr.  Macaulay  threw  off  with  a  good  specimen 
speech,  rather  too  epigrammatic  I  thought  for  good  taste, 
but  shewing  ability  and  dexterity  of  thought.  I  heard  of 
the  admixture  of  saint  and  sinner  in  him.  The  Sierra  Leone 
virtual  monopoly  accounts  for  the  first,  native  taste  and 
appetite,  I  suppose,  for  the  second  half  of  his  character.  .  .  .' 

The  next  letter  is  a  very  interesting  clue  to  the  working 
of  Rickman's  mind. 

'  19th  April  1830. 

'  .  .  .  We  have  had  more  confinement  in  the  Dom. 
Comm.  than  I  ever  remember  before  Easter,  and  I  thought 
it  no  bad  set  off,  to  pass  rapidly  through  the  air  during  the 
Easter  week.  Therefore  putting  post  horses  to  an  open 
four  wheeled  carriage,  I  conveyed  our  young  ladies  to 
Silchester,  Abury,  Stonehenge,  Sarum,  Winchester,  ex- 
pounding as  I  went  partly  with  the  aid  of  the  "  Celtic 
Druids  " — the  title  of  the  book  above-mentioned — and  as 
I  paid  the  author  with  written  observations,  you  shall 
have  the  benefit  of  them  when  copied. 

'  Sitting  on  the  hinder  seat  alone  during  262  miles,  per- 
haps 26  hours  of  journey,  I  hummed  my  tunes  and  thought 
over  affairs  general  and  particular,  in  my  constrained  leisure, 
and  arrived  at  strong  conclusions  in  both  kinds,  so  that  I 
do  not  think  your  Colloquies  x  of  trenchant  form  enough  to 
meet  the  foe,  who  unless  met  steadily  front  to  front  will 
demolish  the  English  form  of  Government  in  the  course  of 
the  next  Parliament,  in  5  or  6  years.     At  what  time  the 

1  i.e.  the  Colloquies  with  Sir  T.  More  (1829). 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     255 

English  Constitution  was  in  its  safest  state,  best  balanced 
I  mean  between  despotism  and  democracy,  I  cannot  decide, 
but  conjecture  it  already  to  have  inclined  to  the  latter  evil 
when  the  personal  character  of  Geo.  m.  was  requisite  to 
turn  out  Carlo  Khan  1  and  his  Indian  Bill.  Pitt's  char- 
acter, or  rather  that  of  his  bolder  prompter  R.  Dundas, 
afterwards  attained  a  decided  preponderance  on  the  same 
side,  and  the  grand  war  carried  us  on  by  the  necessity  of 
events  till  it  was  closed  at  Waterloo  ;  nor  did  we  feel  the 
increase  of  democracy  in  or  out  of  Parliament  till  the  troops 
returned  home  from  Flanders  occupation,  and  were  dis- 
banded not  very  long  before  our  trip  to  Scotland.  Then 
came  the  influence  of  Hunt,  the  field  of  Peterloo,  and  the 
outrageous  lies  about  it,  indicating  the  virulent  appetite 
which  could  swallow  and  propagate  them. 

'  In  fact  we  began  to  feel  the  want  of  Geo.  in.  before  he 
died,  and  in  that  event  the  freaks  of  Q.  Caroline  n.  shewed 
us  what  a  want  of  ballast  we  had  experienced.  The  mobo- 
cracy  disgraced  themselves  (even  that  became  possible)  by 
the  attack  of  foreign  witnesses  at  Dover  and  induced  the 
necessity  of  guarding  them  by  land  and  by  water  in  their 
Cotton  Garden  residence.  The  Whig  aristocracy  disgraced 
themselves  (which  was  possible  enough,  but  not  probable) 
in  taking  part  with  a  woman  whom  they  beyond  all  others 
had  publicly  represented,  (justly  indeed),  as  a  notorious 
Messalina  on  the  Continent,  who  poisoned  Ompteda  at 
Rome,  and  hired  assassination  for  Col.  Ward,  though  un- 
successfully. Even  this  woman,  whom  in  charity  we  must 
deem  insane,  shook  the  throne  as  soon  as  it  was  unworthily 
occupied,  and  from  that  time  to  this  the  Signa  labentis 
Imperii  have  increased  upon  us  shadily  and  fearfully  ;  the 
dark  clouds  rising  from  every  point  of  the  horizon. 

'  It  is  said,  but  I  do  not  believe  the  alledged  extent  of  the 
change,  that  offices  compatible  with  a  seat  in  Parliament 
have  decreased  in  about  100  years  (the  beginning  of  Geo.  n.) 
from  250  to  50.  If  the  first  of  these  numbers  was  tolerable 
and  convenient  long  after  the  boasted  Revolution,  the  last 

1  Fox. 


256    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

is  defective  to  the  amount  of  another  revolution  :  and  it 
really  is  so,  the  zeal  of  attack  rendering  the  Oppositions 
in  Parlt.  much  better  disciplined  troops  than  the  Governt. 
party,  which  is  weakened  in  this  respect  by  the  Prime 
Ministers,  Liverpool  and  now  Wellington  being  in  the  Ho. 
Peers,  and  not  personally  suffering  from  the  unceremonious 
inattention  of  their  Ho.  Common  friends,  who  unless  the 
enemy  strike  at  the  throat  (a  rare  imprudence)  prefer  a 
dinner  party  or  the  Opera  to  a  debate  and  division.  Canning 
was  still  worse,  his  frequent  gout  and  his  constant  personal 
impatience  granting  all  minor  points  rather  than  endure  a 
late  debate,  in  fact  buying  off  by  repeated  commissions 
and  personal  gratifications  the  attacks  which  ought  to  have 
been  otherwise  resisted  (as  our  Saxon  ancestors  paid  Dane- 
geld,  till  in  natural  process  a  Dane  became  their  king). 
This  same  Canning  had  long  been  (for  the  purposes  of  his 
own  boundless  ambition)  leader  of  the  defection  which  pre- 
ferred R. Catholic  emancipation  to  all  other  political  motives ; 
and  the  Whig  Radicals,  wise  in  their  generation,  understood 
the  benefit  of  having  half  the  man,  for  making  the  Church, 
which  is  or  was,  half  the  support  of  the  State. 

'  The  D.  of  W.  with  little  more  of  the  statesman  than  a 
vulgar  appetite  for  power,  succeeds  the  intriguer  Canning, 
who  in  his  year  eased  himself  of  a  financial  statement  by 
borrowing  7  or  8  Millions  upon  the  promise  of  a  Finance 
Commee.  in  the  next  Session.  So  the  D.  of  W.  in  his  year 
eased  himself  of  Opposition  by  conceding  the  R.C.  question 
(for  I  do  not  believe  in  any  higher  or  other  motive),  and 
upon  the  strength  of  this  meritorious  sacrifice  relied  on  the 
steady  support  of  the  Whig  Radicals  for  how  long  a  time  I 
know  not.  But  that  he  did  so,  is  proved  by  the  otherwise 
incredible  spectacle  of  an  Administration  meeting  Parlia 
ment  with  the  weakest  party  of  three  in  the  Ho.  Commons  ; 
and  a  flying  squadron  (Huskisson  and  Co.)  who  hate  the 
minister  that  discarded  them  when  they  tried  the  experi- 
ment of  a  Canning  intrigue  upon  him. 

*  And  what  a  spectacle  have  we  seen  !     Saved  on  the 
second  night  of  the  session  by  the  aid  of  Joseph  Hume  &  Co., 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  HICKMAN    257 

yielding  many  points  of  dangerous  importance  since,  to 
avoid  defeat ;  saved  when  Paulet  Thompson  1  aimed  at 
the  throat,  at  the  management  of  the  Exchequer,  saved 
beyond  their  hopes  by  the  Bruns  wickers  2  relenting  for  the 
sake  of  their  country,  and  coming  down  in  a  phalanx  of  50, 
which  again  saved  the  Administration.  Still  more  degrad- 
ing sight,  that  the  Govt,  party  coming  to  a  Vote  with  the 
avowed  expectation  of  beating  the  Jews  2  to  1,  were  beaten 
by  a  sedulous  Jew  canvas  of  M.P.s.  Thus  it  is  plain  that 
the  Ministry  are  actually  afraid  to  enquire  which  way  any 
of  their  supposed  friends  intends  to  vote  ;  and  so  much 
are  the  patrons  of  boroughs  and  their  nominees  at  variance 
that  100  M.P.s  are  known  to  have  been  in  town  on  a  night 
of  pressure  and  importance,  but  have  absented  themselves 
from  the  House. 

'  Of  course  the  Mob  cry  of  distress,  economy,  unsparing 
retrenchment,  relief  from  taxation  etc.  flourishes  under 
such  incoherent  semblance  of  authority,  and  the  monarchy 
of  England  is  weakened  every  day  by  the  abolition  of  offices 
high  and  low,  which  will  soon  leave  it  without  a  prop. 
Already  a  motion  is  announced  for  the  abolition  of  the  office 
of  lord  lieutenant  of  Ireland,  and  the  same  arguments  which 
have  already  prevailed  as  to  lower  offices,  and  will  be  re- 
peated on  that  occasion,  are  equally  valid  against  the  office 
of  kings — now  shorn  of  its  consistent  defenders  by  their 
disgust  at  the  virtual  contempt  of  all  public  principle  in 
the  R.  Cath.  concession  which  thus  has  produced  evil 
which  seems  unremediable,  and  I  am  persuaded  is  so,  unless 
good  men  rally  for  their  own  sakes  for  steady  defence  for 
what  is  left ;  which  indeed  I  do  not  think  can  be  merely 
defended,  the  vantage  ground  must  be  regained,  or  sordid 
turbulent  democracy  will  not  fail  to  overwhelm  us  with 
vulgar  commonplace  arguments  which  from  non-resist- 
ance, have  assumed  the  force  of  axioms  of  accredited  truth, 
supported  of  course  by  the  spirit  of  the  times,  the  march  of 

1  Poulett  Thomson,  afterwards  Lord  Sydenham  and  Governor-General  of 
Canada. 

2  The  anti-Catholic  party. 

R 


258    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

intellect,    liberal    opinions ;     and    the    schoolmaster    whom 
Mr.  Brougham  has  put  in  motion.' 

On  May  4  Rickman  begins  by  lamenting  the  revolutionary 
tendency  of  the  times,  and  he  continues  : — 

'  .  .  .  This  has  come  to  pass  from  the  R.C.  Relief  Bill, 
and  more  I  think  from  the  manner  than  the  matter  of  what 
was  very  bad  in  itself  ;  but  what  is  stratagem  in  warfare, 
is  treachery  in  legislation,  and  all  M.P.s  who  think  so, 
have  seceded  from  support  of  Government,  many  of  them 
venture  active  opposition,  though  in  doing  so  they  join 
with  the  inveterate  revolutionists,  who  cannot  be  kept  in 
check,  unless  the  steady  part  of  the  House  vote  with  the 
Govt,  on  all  dangerous  questions.  Properly  speaking,  an 
attempt  to  govern  without  the  support  of  a  decided  majority 
of  the  Ho.  Commons  is  unconstitutional,  if  not  revolu- 
tionary, and  shows  a  degree  of  ignorance,  or  of  dangerous 
intention  in  the  D.  of  W.  which  is  tremendous  in  contem- 
plation. It  is  indeed  his  ignorance  in  larger  proportion 
than  his  ambition,  and  of  course  he  and  his  colleagues  are 
in  a  ridiculous  condition,  kicked  and  cuffed  on  all  questions, 
giving  way  whenever  the  Whig-Radicals,  or  the  Bruns- 
wickers  do  not  find  motive  to  help  them.  .  .  .  Pitiable  it  is  to 
witness  their  weakness  ;  last  evening  they  reckoned  upon 
the  K's  illness  to  carry  a  Windsor  vote,  but  they  reckoned 
erroneously,  and  had  to  make  shameful  retreat.  But  the 
same  state  of  things  which  produced  this,  which  in  itself 
imports  little,  produces  also  a  clear  prospect  of  reform  of 
Parliament  in  the  next  session  ;  this  appearing  a  less  evil 
to  many  good  men  than  a  faithless  Govt.,  which  beyond 
doubt  is  capable  of  anything  for  self-preservation.  If  the 
D.  of  W.  were  not  crest-fallen  from  his  discovery  of  feeble- 
ness in  his  expected  strength  (for  he  had  actually  counted 
on  gratitude  in  the  R.Cs.  and  the  Opps.)  he  would  e'er  now 
have  undertaken  to  regulate  Church  property,  and  he  carries 
on  official  reform  for  the  sake  of  vulgar  applause  of  revolu- 
tionists and  fools  in  a  manner  equally  demonstrative  of 
unfeeling  selfishness,  as  of  ignorance  that  the  influence  of 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    259 

the  executive  Govt,  is  already  so  low,  that  military  Govt, 
or  democratic  anarchy  cannot  but  ensue  unless  some  sound 
defence  is  built  behind  the  breach. 

'  This  can  only  be  done  by  throwing  off  all  disguise,  all 
cant ;  by  allowing  that  all  men  being  alike  and  none 
perfect,  our  kind  of  Government  can  only  subsist  on  influ- 
ence :  that  unless  a  thorough  conviction  of  this,  and  an 
open  avowal  of  it  can  be  produced,  false  defences  founded 
on  what  does  not  exist  (absolute  purity)  must  fail ;  and 
the  scum  of  mankind  will  take  possession  of  power  instead 
of  those  who  though  they  have  not  realised  absolute  purity 
have  arrived  at  a  higher  grade  of  morality  than  ever 
occurred  before  in  the  history  of  the  world.  I  question 
indeed,  whether  the  power  of  wickedness,  of  profligacy, 
arising  from  no  conscience  and  no  responsibility  (you 
understand  this  well)  can  be  resisted,  unless  we  openly 
distinguish  public  from  private  affairs,  and  confine  to  the 
latter  the  strict  rule  of  never  doing  evil  that  good  may  come  ; 
meaning  by  the  evil  (what  Democrats  declaim  against) 
influence  on  the  conduct  of  the  powerful,  as  far  as  to  be 
sure  of  their  support  of  the  existing  system  of  Government, 
without  which  it  becomes  and  must  remain  matter  of 
dangerous  uncertainty,  how  long  any  Government  will 
endure.  For  instance  ;  if  the  K.  dies,  there  will  be  no 
need  to  move  in  Parliament,  that  a  K.  is  an  unnecessary 
officer  of  the  State  ;  but  a  Democrat  might  gravely  say, 
That  a  million  a  year  to  maintain  an  unseen  monarch  in 
his  drives  to  Virginia  Water  and  the  cottage  in  Windsor 
Park,  is  sadly  mispent,  and  £100,000  a  year  will  be  fitter 
allowance  :  and  this  would  abolish  the  Civil  List  revenue, 
and  therein  monarchy,  in  the  course  of  7  years. 

'  I  aim  at  proving  to  you  (in  desultory  manner)  that  it  is 
fit  you  should  shew  yourself  in  the  field  ;  and  I  think  it 
would  be  far  from  creating  deficiency  in  your  ways  and 
means,  if  you  dedicate  yourself  to  this  for  the  next  six 
months,  so  as  to  produce  an  8V0  at  Christmas.  I  can  give 
you  infinite  matter,  if  I  am  enabled  unseen  to  do  so  ;  but 
intimate  news  of  essentials,  and  knowledge  of  the  motives 


260    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

and  movements  of  the  actors  and  the  public  stage  of  politics 
and  Parliament,  is  indispensable,  and  you  must  seem  to 
acquire  this  yourself  at  some  sacrifice  :  that  is  ;  you  must 
undergo  the  trouble  of  attending  a  few  debates  in  the  Ho. 
Commons,  and  spending  some  time  in  London  intercourse, 
to  induce  a  probability  of  your  knowing  aliunde  all  I  know, 
and  of  your  introducing  from  your  so  acquired  stores  all 
the  commonplaces  I  can  produce  on  the  effects  of 
Parliamentary  reform,  on  the  free  trade  folly,  and  on  the 
frame  of  human  society,  all  on  the  same  principle  of 
developing  the  naked  truth  and  exposing  vividly,  but 
civilly,  all  the  vulgar  mistakes  fearfully  current,  as  being 
in  their  consequences  incompatible  with  justice  and  social 
happiness.  Finally,  for  all  good  purposes,  you  must  call 
for  your  portmanteau,  put  yourself  in  the  coach,  and  visit 
us  here  for  a  month  at  least  before  Parlt.  separates  ;  say 
you  must  come  in  the  middle  of  May,  and  dedicate  yourself, 
R.  S.,  to  Parly,  observations,  with  my  comments  there- 
upon. Are  not  any  of  your  young  ladies  in  full  state  of  age 
and  acquirement,  that  you  could  bring  one  with  you  as  a 
half-feint  of  motive  for  coming  hither,  and  without  pre- 
venting you  from  dedicating  your  time  peremptorily  to 
what  you  please  ? 

'  Consider  my  large  scheme  and  perpend  whether  you 
ought  not  to  enable  yourself  to  put  into  good  form  your 
own  thoughts,  and  my  practical  views  of  men,  causes,  and 
consequences.  The  fertility  of  the  subject  is  such  that 
selection,  not  matter,  will  be  the  difficulty. 

'  My  time  is  exhausted,  my  paper  full.     Farewell.' 

Southey  expressed  his  readiness  to  come  to  London  in 
June  to  gain  Parliamentary  experience.  But  owing  to  the 
King's  illness  and  death,  and  the  prorogation,  he  did  not 
pay  the  visit  till  the  end  of  October.  Rickman  continued 
to  furnish  him  with  food  for  thought. 

1 12  May  1830. 

'  The  impending  Popn.  Act  for  1831  now  in  Parliament 
has  let  loose  upon  me  several  of  the  Pol.  Oeconts.  besides 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    261 

Macculloch  ;  their  habitual  insolence,  (so  habitual  that  they 
manifestly  are  unconscious  of  it)  is  amusing,  but  it  has 
cost  me  3  or  4  days  hard  work,  Friday,  Saturday  and  Sunday 
(all  the  glimpse  of  leisure  in  a  week)  to  fight  them  by  antici- 
pation ;  for  if  once  they  give  an  opinion,  judge  whether  I 
should  be  able,  unaided  by  any,  to  keep  their  nonsense  out 
of  the  act.  This  task,  and  not  reaching  home  till  daylight, 
confuses  me  somewhat,  but  I  think  I  wrote  a  few  words  to 
you  on  Monday.  The  K.  is  in  a  pitiable  state,  dying  in 
asthmatic  and  spasmodic  misery.  W.  iv.  will  continue  the 
Ministry,  sub  modo,  which  modus,  when  fully  displayed, 
will  make  them  resign.  Then  Lord  Holland,  joined  by 
Huskisson  and  Co.  will  come  in.  A  sincere  Whig,  and  a 
free  trade  intriguer.  Pretty  work  we  shall  have  ;  two  or 
three  changes,  new  Parliament  and  p.  interim  monarchy 
abolished ;  or  perhaps  only  an  euthanasia.  You  must 
attend  Parliament  enough  to  render  it  uncertain  whether 
I  communicate  out  of  school  or  not.  We  expect  dissolution 
about  the  25th  May,  say,  the  end  of  the  month  ;  50  days 
go  deep  into  July — but  when  Parliament  meets,  you  must 
be  summoned  to  your  duty  of  inspection.' 

'  Sunday,  23rd  May  1830. 

' .  .  .  Now  for  our  affair,  the  Ministry  are  feebler  and 
feebler ;  and  curiously  enough  (considering  your  recent 
mention  of  Bain's  limit  for  libel)  this  very  week  Lord 
Morpeth,  a  promising  Whigling,  having  given  notice  of 
motion  for  repealing  the  law  which  you  know  inflicts  banish- 
ment for  the  second  offence,  was  stopped  last  Tuesday 
from  doing  so — And  how  ?  By  Mr.  Atty.  Genl.  under- 
taking to  do  it  himself  ;  and  this  mean  cowardly  insolent 
fellow  has  done  so  accordingly.  You  shall  have  a  printed 
copy  of  this  bill  in  a  day  or  two.  You  knew  Scarlet[t] 
was  the  tool  of  the  D.  of  W.  in  two  or  three  imprudent 
prosecutions  just  before  Parliament  met,  when  the  D. 
thought  himself  inexpugnable  and  the  Radicals  his  friends, 
and  this  is  Scarlet[t]'s  peace  offering,  in  atonement  for 
himself  and  the  Duke,  whose  crest  is  fallen  ;   his  ignorance 


262    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

of  parties  and  men,  and  things  not  military  is  marvellous, 
yet  I  believe  it  will  be  expedient  to  apologise  for  his  mis- 
deeds, and  support  him,  or  he  will  doubtless  turn  democrat 
first  and  tyrant  afterwards.  We  will  consider  this  at 
leisure  ;  which  leisure  I  think  will  soon  occur.  For  I  make 
up  my  mind  now  that  the  K.  will  live  long  enough  to  carry 
the  session  to  its  end.  If  he  lives  three  weeks,  they  would 
go  on  three  weeks  more  and  end  it,  leaving  much  business 
undone.  Now  if  Parliament  was  dissolved  and  did  not 
meet  till  November,  my  purpose  of  your  obtaining 
ostensible  knowledge  of  affairs  and  especially  of  the  Ho. 
Commons  would  fail  very  inconveniently  ;  so  if  you  please, 
as  soon  as  can  be  in  the  month  of  June  leave  the  hay-fever 
at  Keswick,  and  under  cover  of  that,  and  of  shewing  your 
young  lady  useful  novelties,  let  us  expect  you  and  her  on 
Thursday  week  or  thereabouts  ;  you  to  suffer  martyrdom 
in  some  degree  at  the  Ho.  Commons,  she  to  find  as  much 
amusement  and  instruction  as  she  can  in  London.  For 
your  purpose  you  must  be  on  a  steady  visit  here,  and  I 
think  you  will  not  say  much  of  your  intention  of  coming, 
lest  engagements  too  much  anticipate  and  embarrass  your 
Parly,  attendance.  I  think  I  shall  be  tolerably  clear  of  my 
Popn.  tormentors  before  the  end  of  this  week,  and  I  shall 
then  in  the  House,  during  the  tiresome  debates,  oftener 
squabbles,  produced  by  the  present  state  of  affairs,  ponder 
my  schemes  of  action,  and  mark  down  the  topics  on  which 
to  accumulate  matter.  My  present  notion  is,  not  to  prepare 
the  book  as  of  any  party,  but  as  a  warning  voice,  to  prevent 
revolution  finding  men  unawares,  because  it  is  not  in  the 
shape  of  popular  violence.  I  would  treat  as  a  problem  the 
effects  of  various  forms  of  Govt,  in  England,  and  let  all  men 
see  that  non-resistance  against  the  growing  power  of  the 
Oppn.  and  non-defence  of  what  is  left  to  the  Crown,  cannot 
but  lead  to  reform  of  Parlt.,  which  again  cannot  but  abolish 
tythes,  seize  Church  land,  ruin  agriculture  and  the  landed 
interest  by  free  import  of  corn,  and  under  the  name  of 
"  equitable  adjustment  "  pay  as  much,  or  rather  as  little, 
of  the  interest  of  the  National  Debt,  as  the  tax  payers 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     263 

think  fit.    Property  in  fact  must  disappear,  and  the  obvious 
inconvenience  of  all  this,  when  plainly  proved,  will  form  a 
strong  phalanx,  who  ought  to  enter  into  steady  combination, 
and  will  do  so,  if  they  are  heartily  frightened. 
'  My  notion  of  title  is — 

'  Monarchy  or  Democracy 

and  the  motto, 

'  Ne  Quid  Detrimenti  Bespublica  capiat. 

'  Whether  monarchy  [is]  better  than  democracy  in  the 
abstract,  and  whether  it  is  better  in  England  :  and  if  so, 
what  is  necessary  for  maintaining  it  here  in  due  vigour. 
To  prove  in  a  friendly  manner  to  the  Whigs,  that  they  must 
cease  their  habitual  attacks  on  a  fortress  which  they  do 
not  seriously  mean  to  batter  down  :  to  the  Tories  that  they 
must  defend  it  steadily  and  keep  guard  as  a  regular  army, 
behind  the  wide  breaches  made  since  the  death  of  Lord 
Casblereagh.  They  must  do  more,  and  strengthen  the 
Crown  by  more  numerous  officers  of  Govt.  For  at  present 
the  bodily  and  mental  fatigue  of  all  efficient  members  of 
the  Administration  destroys  them  as  rational  beings. 
Sufficient  unto  the  day  is  the  evil  thereof  ;  and  I  know 
from  my  own  last  fifteen  years  existence  during  the  session, 
how  impossible  it  is  for  a  harassed  man  to  think  his  own 
thoughts,  or  to  start  into  a  new  field  of  action.  The  answer 
which  is  uttered,  or  which  is  kept  back,  always  amounts 
to  a  plea  of  impossibility  of  doing  more  than  what  is 
absolutely  necessary,  that  is,  of  opposing  their  enemies 
in  the  Ho.  Commons  who  during  the  session  make  incursions 
into  every  department.  This  sort  of  annoyance  goes  so 
far,  added  to  the  small  power  of  the  Crown  to  remunerate 
service,  that  we  are  near  in  danger  of  finding  anybody  to 
take  office.  At  present  Lord  Althorp,  the  most  respectable 
of  the  Whigs,  professes  (and  truly)  that  he  does  not  aim 
at  it.  So  Sir  Richard  Vyvyan,  the  most  sensible  of  the 
Tories,  while  the  Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  1  (who  and 

1  Goulburn. 


264    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

Hemes,  are  the  only  true  labourers  in  office)  openly  pro- 
fesses his  office  to  be  one  which  he  would  gladly  relinquish. 
So  that  the  Govt,  is  in  danger  of  dying  of  the  dead  palsy. 
Brougham,  who  I  suppose  might  have  any  thing,  cannot 
take  office  whether  for  good  or  for  evil  because  he  cannot 
afford  it.  prudentially.  Mr.  Peel  with  his  augmented 
wealth  will  get  sick  of  flummery,  whether  given  or  swallowed 
in  the  m'idst  of  his  feeble  doings  ;  and  I  really  believe  that 
as  matter  of  calculation,  I  shall  see  refusals  of  the  highest 
offices,  unless  the  dread  of  ruin  consolidate  the  Tories  and 
all  honest  men,  so  as  bear  down  the  ignoble  assailants  who 
now  think  themselves,  and  I  am  afraid  politically  speaking, 
justly  think  themselves,  of  weight  and  consequence  from 
their  mere  power  of  annoyance. 

'  I  hope  you  will  answer  that  your  portmanteau  is  airing  ; 
you  know  how  happy  Mrs.  R.  will  be  to  receive  your  visit, 
and  for  my  part  I  have  often  found  your  friendship  a  species 
of  nobility,  very  useful  to  me,  as  well  as  ornamental,  so  that 
from  interest  as  well  as  from  inclination,  I  say  the  longer 
you  can  give  us  your  company  here  the  better. — Yours 
truly  always,  J.  R. 

lP.S. — Monday,  the  K.'s  symptoms  recur — water  collected 
in  thorax.' 

'  29  June  1830. 

'  Today  we  are  told  per  Message  from  King  W.  rv.  that 
Parliament  is  to  be  dissolved  quam  citissimum  ;  so  say  I, 
but  I  doubt  whether  all  the  beating  and  buffetting  under- 
gone by  the  Ministers  this  session  has  made  them  know 
that  they  cannot  yet  push  in  some  of  the  foolish  feeble 
trash  now  before  the  House  :  we  shall  see.  I  think  a 
rattling  debate  (tomorrow  probably)  will  irradiate  their 
obscurity  and  force  dissolution  forthwith.  I  hope  so,  at 
least,  heartily  tired  of  the  disgrace  of  fatigue  about  nothing 
— the  Ho:  Comm:  absolutely  contemptible  in  its  ways  and 
doings.' 

A  tremendous  impetus  to  Liberal  sentiments  during  the 
general  election  was  given  by  the  July  Revolution  in  France. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    265 

Before  Parliament  met  on  October  26  fifty  seats  had 
changed  hands,  and  the  Tory  regime  was  doomed.  During 
the  recess  Rickman  continued  to  discuss  topics  with 
Southey.     The  following  are  some  extracts  from  his  letters. 

'  Slst  August  1830. 

'  .  .  .  If  we  may  judge  of  our  own  Govt,  by  the  Courier, 
they  are  in  contemptible  timidity,  palliating  and  seeking  to 
disguise  from  themselves  the  recurrence  of  the  old  spirit 
of  revolution.  .  .  .  Unless  there  be  such  a  defection  of  the 
Whigs,  and  such  association  of  those  who  have  property, 
as  at  the  commencement  of  the  first  Revn.,  our  Govt,  also 
must  change  its  nature — by  the  obvious  mode  of  reform 
of  Parlt.  But  I  think  our  National  Debt  will  again  be  our 
sheet  anchor.  Will.  rv.  will  be  better  than  his  predecessor 
in  troublesome  times.  I  believe  Geo.  iv.  had  not  a  friend 
in  the  world  ;  his  odious  liability  to  sudden  and  capricious 
dismissal  of  his  personal  and  household  friends  keeping  all 
in  uneasiness.  Will.  rv.  may  perchance  keep  the  mob  in 
huzzaing  humour,  which  will  be  clear  gain.  I  scribble 
occasionally  what  occurs  for  our  purpose,  and  will  send  you 
(at  least)  a  list  of  topics  fit  to  be  interwoven.  I  am 
oppressed  by  the  multiplicity  of  matter  which  urges  for 
delivery,  and  dissatisfied  therefore  with  whatever  preference 
or  priority  I  allow  to  any  part  of  so  diversified  a  subject. 
Farewell.' 

<  7  September  1830. 
'  ...  So  of  a  reform  of  Parliament,  I  am  not  afraid  of 
it,  if  it  arrived  at  the  height  of  precluding  the  populace  from 
any  share  in  elections,  the  qualification  to  be  measured  by 
direct  taxation  :  and  herein  all  foreign  nations  (our  imitators) 
have  the  same  advantage  of  us,  as  in  juries.  They  can 
establish  better  (in  tabula  rasa)  on  view  of  our  imperfect 
rudeness  of  antiquity  ;  but  what  our  reformers  require, 
and  the  only  alteration  practicable,  is  to  throw  more  power 
into  the  hands  of  the  populace,  who  already  by  their 
clamorous  interference,  exercise  great  influence,  even  where 


266    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

they  have  no  vote.  Thus  if  one  third  of  the  Ho.  Commons 
is  created  by  the  aristocracy,  a  full  third  are  as  direct  repre- 
sentatives of  the  mob.  '  I  am  sent  here  (says  Hobhouse) 
for  this,'  when  half  laughing  at  the  absurdity  of  his  own 
assumed  violence  in  favour  of  his  mob  Parish  Vestry  Bill. 
The  county  representation  is  also  become  exceptionable 
from .  the  increase  of  freeholders.  No  man  could  face  a 
contested  election  either  in  Yorkshire  or  Lancashire  un- 
less meaning  to  spend  £200,000.  Accordingly  Stewart 
Wortley  and  Lord  Milton  have  abandoned  the  former  to 
Whig  adventurers,  who  were  quite  safe  from  making  any 
large  expenditure.  In  fact  the  forty  shilling  qualification 
ought  to  be  made  £40,  for  the  same  reason  as  it  became 
40/  when  the  best  land  was  not  worth  1/  per  acre  per  annum. 
'  I  really  do  not  know  a  single  place  in  England  where 
the  qualification  of  voters  is  unexceptionable  ;  so  that 
though  the  Ho.  Commons  as  a  whole  is  not  a  bad  repre- 
sentation of  all,  yet  a  reform  whereby  property  might  best 
protect  itself  might  be  safer  than  the  rude  manner  now 
in  practice — the  antagonism  of  parties,  whence  practically 
comes  a  good  result.  Against  reform  therefore  we  need 
not  argue,  but  against  any  reform  which  gives  more  power 
to  the  populace,  and  which  could  scarcely  fail  to  be  followed 
by  excessive  national  degradation  for  20  or  30  years.  .  .  .' 


'  Friday  Morning,  17  Sept.  1830. 

'  .  .  .  The  Govt,  cannot  be  in  a  more  contemptible 
posture.  If  you  had  seen  the  D.  of  W.  sitting  night  after 
night,  affecting  to  listen  to  the  East  Retford  evidence,  for 
the  sake  of  credit  with  the  reformers  (who  little  meant  to 
carry  that  point),  you  would  have  pitied  him.  The  enmity 
of  the  D.  of  Cumb.  and  Huskisson  is  a  whimsical  specimen 
of  one  poison  antidote  agt.  another,  for  the  contingent  good 
of  the  public.  The  D.  of  W.  cares  nothing  about  free  trade 
nor  aught  else  beyond  office  ;  in  which  too  he  is  uneasy, 
because  he  must  perforce  search  for  colleagues  beyond  those 
who  have  submitted  to  military  sway. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    267 

'  I  hear  the  Whiggamores  begin  to  be  frightened  (Rascals  !) 
and  to  meditate  a  defection  as  in  1792.  We  might  make 
them  an  excuse  for  it.' 

The  reference  here  to  Huskisson  has  a  pathetic  interest, 
for  on  September  15,  at  the  public  opening  of  the  Liverpool 
and  Manchester  Railway,  he  was  knocked  down  by  an  engine 
and  fatally  crushed.  He  died  during  the  night ;  but  it  must 
be  supposed  that  the  news  had  not  reached  Rickman. 

'  4  October  1830. 

'  .  .  .  I  think  the  Government  since  the  Revolution  has 
been  one  of  antagonism,  the  weakest  of  the  two  parties 
(the  outs)  always  ready  to  call  in  popular  help,  and  thus 
being  pledged  (a  vile  system)  to  yield  something  on  coming 
into  office.  What  the  Crown  has  thus  lost :  The  royal 
negative ;  the  elective  votes  of  all  employees  [in  the] 
customs,  excise,  stamps  as  if  proscribed  persons  ;  the  pre- 
sence in  Parlt.  of  all  offices  since  6.  Anne  prohibited,  cum 
multis  aliis—iov  which  we  must  read  history. 

'  Is  antagonism  the  best  system  still  ?  It  is  found  to 
be  so  in  law,  where  justice  could  not  be  administered  unless 
lawyers  pleaded  on  both  sides.  This  seems  unfit,  until  the 
contrary  is  proved  to  be  more  unfit,  as  may  indeed  be 
proved.  Yet  no  scandal  is  more  common,  none  more 
obvious  and  popular,  than  the  blame  of  lawyers  taking 
fees  on  the  notoriously  wrong  side.  I  support  then  that 
antagonism  is  also  good  in  political  affairs  ;  spite  of  Opposi- 
tion increases  the  responsibility  of  Ministers  by  displaying 
everything,  and  thus  injures  their  good  conduct.  Yet 
this  antagonism,  which  relies  on  the  influence  of  the  aris- 
tocracy (unless  where  the  useful  rotten  boroughs  intermix 
the  influence  of  wealth)  is  become  scandalous.  Every  fool 
can  gibe  at  it,  and  the  power  of  such  fools,  and  their  fine 
friend  the  Press  is  become  so  great,  through  the  liberalism 
of  the  said  aristocracy  courting  popular  aid,  that  antag- 
onism can  be  supported  no  longer,  and  we  shall  make  good 
compromise  if  in  a  general  reform  of  Parlt.  we  can  keep  from 
voting  the  populace. 


268    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

'  But  in  treating  of  these  subjects,  it  will  be  fair  to  display 
the  good  arguments  (recondite  indeed)  in  favour  of  antag- 
onism and  influence,  which  however  after  nine  years 
surrender  (I  date  from  the  death  of  Lord  Londonderry) 
I  think  cannot  be  supported. 

'  As  to  present  men,  I  am  not  sure  W.  iv.  and  the  D.  of 
W.  would  not  join  the  mob  rather  than  lose  their  power. 
Indeed  reform  of  Parliament  from  the  Throne  and  Prime 
Minister,  even  by  surprise  and  stratagem,  would  be  but 
quite  in  march  after  the  R.C.  concession  which  really  was 
but  to  secure  one  or  two  years  of  power  without  further 
trouble.' 

Much  disappointment  was  caused  by  the  King's  speech 
on  November  2,  which  did  not  mention  reform,  and  feeling 
against  the  government  was  made  still  stronger  by  the 
Duke  of  Wellington's  speech  in  the  Lords  in  which  he 
roundly  declared  against  reform.  This  declaration  was 
rather  embarrassing  to  the  Cabinet,  but  they  stood  by 
Wellington.  Brougham  at  once  gave  notice  of  a  motion 
for  Parliamentary  reform,  but  before  it  came  on  the  govern- 
ment was  defeated  on  a  motion  regarding  the  civil  list. 
On  November  16  Wellington  resigned,  and  Lord  Grey  was 
asked  to  form  an  administration.  Meanwhile  Southey 
had  paid  a  long  visit  to  Rickman,  lasting  throughout 
November  and  December.  During  this  visit  the  literary 
plan  of  campaign  was  matured.  A  new  series  of  Colloquies 
was  to  be  written  jointly  by  Rickman  and  Southey  ;  Southey 
was  to  continue  in  the  character  of  Montesinos,  which  he 
had  assumed  in  his  published  Colloquies,  and  Rickman  was 
to  assume  some  other  fictitious  name.  It  was  also  agreed 
for  purposes  of  secrecy  that  the  copy  should  be  sent  by 
Rickman  to  Robert  Lovell,  who  was  in  Hansard's,  to  be 
set  up  privately,  in  the  expectation  that  Murray,  when  he 
was  apprised  of  the  scheme,  would  be  willing  to  carry  on 
the  printing  in  this  manner.  As  will  appear  in  the  sequel, 
it  was  chiefly  owing  to  difficulties  connected  with  the  print- 
ing that  these  Colloquies  never  appeared.     After  a  visit  to 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    269 

Rickman's  country  home,  Southey  returned  to  Keswick 
at  the  end  of  December.  Rickman  at  once  got  to  work, 
and  it  was  not  ]ong  before  he  sent  a  sketch  of  the  projected 
work  to  Southey,  who  was  to  compose  an  introduction, 
describing  the  visit  of  Montesinos  to  his  friend  in  London, 
and  his  return  with  the  friend  to  Keswick,  where  the 
Colloquies  should  begin. 

1 3  January  1831. 

' .  .  .  For  my  part,  I  have  once  more  had  cause  to  re- 
member the  old  school  thesis  which  has  always  haunted 
me  Dimidium  incepti,  qui  bene  coepit,  hdbet.  Beginning  is 
the  great  obstacle  with  me  ;  the  other  half  I  always  find 
easier,  and  work  in  good  hope  and  eagerness  :  especially 
as  the  materials  may  serve  for  something  hereafter  if  not 
now  speedily  in  use.  My  persuasion  that  the  time  presses 
for  opposing  hitherto  unresisted  error  urges  me  on  and  I 
feel  that  I  shall  work  daily  in  January  1831.  Occasionally 
I  have  remarked  to  you  upon  various  points  of  your  colloquy 
sufficiently  for  recognition  under  whatever  name  you  choose 
to  assign  to  me.  You  will  remain  a  mountaineer.  I 
should  prefer  a  name  not  significant  of  anything  but  manner, 
— suppose  Instantius — a  word  derivable  obscurely  from 
insto,  instans,  instantior,  but  perhaps  you  will  hit  on  a 
better  name. 

'  Supposing  you  to  begin  with  fit  recognition — expectant 
of  conflict  and  paradox,  and  by  no  means  laudatory — I 
presume  you  to  remove  what  you  say  in  your  Colloquies 
of  my  notion  in  behalf  of  the  National  Debt,  and  to  ask 
longer  explanation  as  much  needed  at  present,  provided 
it  can  be  given  unencumbered  with  the  modern  meta- 
physicks  of  political  economy.  .  .  .  [Here  follow  some 
detailed  comments.] 

'  I  know  you  are  well  employed,  yet  you  see  I  do  not  offer 
a  sinecure  for  your  acceptance.  Of  course  you  will  say 
whether  to  pursue  the  Colloquies  at  this  expense — for 
though  I  give  needful  clue  for  your  interpellations,  I  bargain 
that  you  write  every  word  of  them,  and  smoothe  the  angles 


270    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

of  my  phraseology  (which  will  grow  smoother  as  I  write 
more),  in  fact,  alter  as  much  as  you  can.  If  I  try  to 
furnish  bone  and  muscle,  you  must  be  answerable  for  skin 
and  colour.  If  we  can  get  out  a  'pars  prior  of  a  volume  in 
February,  comprizing  (1)  Corn  Laws,  (2)  National  Debt,  (3) 
Free  Trade,  (4)  Poor  Laws,  (5)  Currency,  (6)  Liberality  and 
Selfishness,  (7)  The  Power  of  Wickedness  (you  are  Kehama), 
(8)  Secondary  Punishments,  or  any  other  more  tempting 
subject  which  may  occur  in  progress  of  the  work,  this 
done,  the  pars  posterior  may  be  political  to  suit  the  pressure 
of  the  time  not  yet  distinctly  foreseen  and  unsafe  till  the 
former  part  in  sale  as  a  shoeing  horn — which  pars  posterior 
may  also  teem  with  notes  (preuves  as  the  French  speak) 
in  some  detail,  and  presuming  largely  on  the  possible 
ignorance  of  the  reader. 

'  All  this  may  make  a  first  volume  and  without  difficulty, 
for  I  find  (perhaps  you  have  found)  the  personification  of 
a  listener  to  produce  much  facility  of  composition,  and 
the  conversational  form  abolishes,  as  conveniently  for  the 
author  as  the  reader,  the  necessity  of  regular  classification 
and  induction  which  costs  much,  retards  much,  and  spends 
the  brains  of  both  parties  to  little  purpose.  Farewell.  I 
will  not  now  be  guilty  in  that  kind — and  pray  write  as 
shortly  as  you  please  whether  and  how  you  wish  me  to 
proceed.  Bertha's  cough  is  exhausted,  and  she  is  merry 
with  the  rest.' 

How  much  Southey  appreciated  Rickman's  work  may 
be  judged  from  the  two  following  extracts. 

« 4  Jan.  1831.1 

'  .  .  .  I  will  begin  earnestly  as  soon  as  I  get  home.  .  .  . 
I  cannot  work  with  your  iron  industry  indeed,  nor  with 
anything  like  your  expedition,  yet  I  will  make  good  haste 
and  no  ill  speed,  and  polish  and  inlay  when  it  can  be  done 
with  good  effect,  taking  however  care  never  to  take  away 
from  the  strength  of  a  rough  hewn  style.  We  shall  make  a 
1  Selections  from  the  Letters  of  R.  S.,  iv.  205. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    271 

new  sort  of  Beaumont  and  Fletcher,  to  my  great  gratifica- 
tion, for  I  like  dearly  to  think  of  being  held  in  intimate 
remembrance  hereafter  with  those  from  an  intimacy  with 
whom  I  have  derived  most  advantage  and  delight.' 

'  Jan.  8,  1831. 
'  I  am  so  in  love  with  your  work  that  it  puts  me  out  of 
humour  with  my  own,  because  pressure  of  time  prevents 
me  from  immediately  following  up  my  part.  You  will 
certainly  set  the  public  right  in  very  many  most  essential 
points,  and  me  also  upon  some,  by  the  way.' 

Two  further  letters  from  Rickman  show  the  eagerness 
with  which  he  threw  himself  into  the  work. 

'  11  January  1831. 
'  I  have  now  collected  a  large  stock  of  materials  for 
the  series  of  Colloquies,  but  cannot  write  so  confidently 
(therefore  less  rapidly),  while  I  feel  a  sensation  that  much 
of  the  connecting  machinery  will  be  badly  patched  in 
hereafter,  that  the  spirit  of  conversation  of  characters  will 
have  no  natural  touches,  if  it  be  all  penurious  interpolation. 
So  I  have  been  thinking  of  addl.  Mr.  'persona  dramatis. 
I  do  not  see  how  he  can  carry  you  this  kind  of  freight  unless 
from  London,  and  therefore  that  you  among  your  mountains 
shall  receive  a  visit  from  this  gentleman  whom  you  may 
oppose  in  title  to  your  Montesinos  by  some  Spanish  name, 
as  if  a  courtier  or  employee  of  some  kind  of  Spanish  office, 
who  has  read  your  Colloquies  with  Sir  T.  More,  but  from 
much  business  has  been  prevented  from  visiting  you  many 
years  ;  who  from  an  impediment  in  his  speech  (my  situation 
of  hearing  but  not  speaking  in  the  Ho.  Commons)  has  com- 
municated his  strong  opinion  to  no  one  unless  casually 
and  dogmatically,  not  seeking  to  impress  them,  but  that  the 
prudential  errors  in  all  subjects  becoming  more  and  more 
practical  and  dangerous,  it  may  be  interesting  to  Montesinos 
to  hear  summarily  the  conclusions  at  which  his  friend  has 


272    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

arrived,  trusting  to  general  recollections  of  dates  and 
facts — (which  to  be  reserved  for  appx.  or  notes). 

' 1  don't  think  a  Spanish  name  will  be  worse  for  being 
understood  by  few. 

'  Now  I  turn  to  my  National  Debt  heap  of  materials.' 

'  14  January  — 31. 

'  I  received  your  note,  pray  remember  "  When  the  wicked 
man  turns  away  from  his  wickedness  " — and  let  us  give 
him  fair  chance.  He  has  talents  too.  May  he  apply  them 
pro  bono  publico. 

'  I  see  that  12  or  13  sheets  will  be  enough  for  our  present 
purpose  ;  for  there  must  be  appx.  or  notes  after  the  2nd 
part  of  the  vol.  as  much  as  in  your  first  vol.  of  Colloquies.  I 
find  that  Messrs  Hansard  have  been  employed  by  Murray 
confidentially  in  setting  up  private  matter — in  preparation 
for  the  Q.R. — and  R.  Lovell  being  with  Messrs  H.,  with 
my  influence  there  we  may  command  all  sort  of  accom- 
modation. I  would  not  consult  Murray  ;  that  will  be  soon 
enough  before  the  book  is  finally  printed  ;  and  if  it  prospers, 
it  can  afford  to  pay  the  first  typed  MS.  ;  if  not,  I  will  pay 
it  willingly.  I  like  very  well  your  projected  order  of  battle  ; 
provided  you  do  not  mix  any  party  politics  in  your  London 
remarks,  as  I  would  wish  to  offend  no  man  in  what  is  really 
not  matter  of  party,  but  of  human  society.  I  shall  try  to 
be  smooth  even  with  Malthus — to  whom  personally  I  owe 
heavy  grudges. 

'  Pray  let  me  have  an  outlandish  Spanish  name.  Is  there 
not  an  office  about  the  Court  and  the  Councils  there — a 
Gamerario  %  Would  that  do  ?  I  send  you  3  sheets,  and 
put  you  in  sight  of  my  National  Debt  conclusion.  The 
more  I  send,  the  more  excursively  you  will  think.  I  doubt 
not  your  rapidity  of  execution  when  you  reach  home  full 
of  concocted  matter.  I  reckon  on  finishing  the  8  subjects 
before  the  Ho.  Commons  meets.' 

Grey's  Government,  which  included  Althorp,  Palmerston, 
Melbourne,  Goderich  and  Graham,  with  Brougham  as  Lord 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    273 

Chancellor,  was  considerably  troubled  by  disturbances 
in  the  south  of  England,  the  question  of  the  civil  list,  the 
revolutionary  movement  in  Belgium — which  subsequently 
resulted  in  separation  from  Holland — and  an  unsuccessful 
budget.  Their  credit,  especially  shaken  as  it  was  by  the 
budget,  was  only  preserved  by  the  general  anticipation  of  a 
measure  for  Parliamentary  reform.  Rickman's  letter  of 
February  25  strikes  the  general  note  of  the  opposition. 

1  25  February  1831. 

'  I  receive  continuation  of  your  MS.  and  send  it  to  Mr. 
Lovell,  through  Hansard's.  It  is  not  certain  the  reformers 
will  carry  the  introduction  of  their  expected  bill,  unless  the 
other  party  play  (I  think)  the  better  game  of  letting  them 
print  the  abortion,  before  they  strangle  it.  This  may 
depend  on  what  it  is.  The  present  Govt,  (so  called)  is  not 
expected  to  last  beyond  the  Easter  holidays — by  them- 
selves ;  others  allow  shorter  term.  They  place  their  hopes 
in  a  war,  which  may  cover  over  a  financial  blunder,  in 
loans,  etc.  The  disturbances  in  Ireland  will  produce  active 
union  among  all  men  of  property,  and  give  us  good  example 
here.  That  done,  all  danger  is  over,  but  unless  we  can 
obtain  some  large  act  of  reform,  in  disqualifying  all  voters 
throughout  G.  Britain,  who  are  not  freeholders,  or  do  not 
pay  taxes  for  a  house  of  £20  or  £30  a  year  value,  our  calm 
will  not  be  long.  It  is  said,  that  the  infamous  Wakley  is 
to  be  brought  in  for  Middx.  or  Westminster  by  Mr.  Taylor 
Place  *  and  the  blackguards  at  the  next  general  election.' 

On  March  1  the  Reform  bill,  which  was  broadly  the  same 
as  the  measure  finally  passed,  was  introduced  by  Lord 
John  Russell.  After  a  long  debate  of  seven  days,  it  passed 
first  reading  on  March  9  without  a  division.  Rickman 
sent  Southey  frequent  and  spirited  bulletins  of  progress. 

'2  March  1831. 
'    .  .  .  Great    sport  we   had   last   evening   in   the   Ho. 

1  Francis  Place,  the  leading  spirit  of  the  Westminster  Election  Committee, 
and  one  of  the  originators  of  trades  unions,  was  originally  a  breeches-maker. 

S 


274    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

Commons  in  laughing  at  the  silly  though  destructive  plan 
of  Lord  Johnny  for  reform  of  Parlt.,  and  the  backing  speech 
of  the  Tricolor  Donkey  Lord  was  truly  asinine.  No  other 
member  of  the  Govt,  spoke  ;  and  there  were  three  good 
speeches  against  reform,  touching  the  particular  plan  (for 
which  nobody  was  prepared)  but  slightly  of  course.  Sir 
R.  P.  undertakes  this  to-night. 

'  The  whimsical  mismanagement  of  this  immortal  plan 
(for  it  will  remain  a  scare  crow  in  history)  is  such,  that 
by  now  excluding  all  bribeable  freemen  non-resident,  and 
by  excluding  all  such  in  the  next  generation,  a  strong  party 
will  be  furious  against  it  in  the  large  boroughs,  and  Lord 
Johnny's  proposal  for  improving  the  small  boroughs  which 
his  lordship  spares  from  proscription  by  infusion  of  districts 
round  them  alienates  all  the  boroughs  favoured  at  this 
expence, — this  half  extinction.  And  who  is  to  form  the 
limits  of  the  districts  thus  cut  off  from  county  elections 
whether  they  will  or  nill  ?    A  Commee.  of  the  Privy  Council ! 

'  I  heard  it  mentioned  as  opinion  (of  fact  secretly  obtained, 
I  believe)  that  these  wisemen  have  enormously  altered 
their  plan  towards  Radicality,  much  within  the  last  week  ; 
and  it  being  clear  that  no  Govt,  could  go  on  6  months  with 
a  Parlt.  so  reformed,  the  inference  is  (drolly  expressed  you 
will  say),  that  the  contemptible  failure  of  budget  and  their 
mutual  recriminations  in  consequence,  have  given  them 
a  near  view  of  exit ;  and  they  had  rather  blaze  out,  than 
stink  out.  Yet  in  this  tactic  they  continue  to  blunder  ; 
because  their  declaration  of  war  against  all  bribeable 
freemen  will  procure  them  internecine  enemies,  fiercer  and 
more  efficacious  than  any  idle  ballot  mob  can  be  in  their 
favour. 

'  I  am  too  closely  worked  to  write  Colloquy  ;  but  as  I 
am  well  ahead,  I  shall  be  able  to  fetch  up  at  Easter.  A 
speedy  war  and  soon  ! ' 

'  4  March  1831. 

'  Here  we  are  on  the  fourth  day  of  reform  of  Parlt.  Mr. 
A.  Baring  gave  heavy  fire  upon  the  reformers  last  evening, 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    275 

a  friend  of  their  own.  His  nephew  Baring  Wall  made  an 
excellent  speech  against  reform  the  preceding  evening. 
It  seemed  as  if  no  Cabinet  Minister  (except  the  Tricolor 
the  first  evening)  were  willing  to  speak.  At  last  Lord  P. 
[Palmerston]  lashed  himself  up  to  an  uphill  speech.  A 
Canningite  in  favour  of  reform.  Then  Sir  Rob.  Peel  spoke, 
the  best  speech  he  ever  made,  very  trenchant  on  the 
Administration  in  the  first  half,  very  conclusive  of  reform 
in  the  latter  part.  I  think  to-day  the  reformers  seem  to 
resolve  on  producing  the  great  scare  crow ;  I  feared  they 
were  scared  from  it  by  their  looks  last  evening.  It  is  said 
they  have  sent  to  the  City  for  alliance  from  bullying  City 
meetings,  and  one  of  them  arrived  just  now.  .  .  .' 

'  Tuesday,  6  March  —31. 

'  The  sixth  night — eloquence  worn  thread-bare. 

'  Majority  of  "  the  Reform  Bill  "  anticipated  46.  I  think 
more. 

'  Lord  Howick  told  us  last  evening  that  England  for  lack 
of  such  reform  had  been  governed  wretchedly  during  the 
last  40  years  :  and  this  young  Radical  is  the  prime  mover 
of  his  father,  Lambton  the  Second.' 

'  March  12,  1831. 

'  .  .  .  The  Ministers  in  their  desperate  humour  are 
evidently  intriguing  with  O'Connell,  and  are  rapacious  for 
radical  aid,  although  Hunt  tells  them  that  he  and  his  friends 
will  push  on  regardless  of  any  such  concession  as  is  con- 
tained in  the  inimitable  bill  which  is  to  appear  on  Tuesday 
unless  (as  is  likely)  they  break  their  promise.  In  the  mean- 
time, every  tool  of  agitation  is  at  work.  We  reckon  about 
260  or  270  will  vote  for  the  bill,  300  to  320  are  against  it, 
but  there  may  be  fearful  defection  by  wilfull  absentees. 
The  Coward  of  Kent  (Sir  E.  K.) x  already  shews  the  white 
feather  in  asking  a  fortnight's  "  leave  of  absence,"  fore- 

1  Sir  Edward  Knatchbull,  M.P.  for  Kent.  He  had  declined  office  in 
Grey's  administration,  being  unable  to  go  the  whole  length  of  the  reform 
measure.  He  did  not  stand  at  the  general  election,  but  sat  again  for  East 
Kent  after  the  bill  was  passed. 


276    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

seeing  ill  health  with  careful  eye.  In  fact  they  hazard  their 
elections,  as  if  future  elections  were  desirable,  if  the  bill 
passes.  The  learned  say  the  bill  will  be  defeated,  46 
majority  against  the  second  reading.' 

The  debate  on  the  second  reading  of  the  bill  occupied 
March  21  and  22.  In  a  short  note  on  March  22  Rickman 
announced  the  result. 

'  Ayes  302.    Noes  301. 

'  The  Whigs  have  had  a  shout,  but  their  bill  will  drop, 
without  going  into  Commee.,  so  they  seem  to  allow  is 
necessary,  because  about  30  M.P.'s  bullied  by  their  con- 
stituents into  yes  upon  the  2nd  reading,  reserved  opposition 
to  details.  All  has  happened  in  the  best  possible  manner, 
as  we  shall  see.' 

I  conjecture  that  an  imperfectly  dated  letter  of  some 
length  was  written  next  day,  Wednesday,  23  March.  The 
Government  had  indeed  contemplated  dissolution,  but  not 
on  account  of  the  second  reading  division.  On  March  16 
they  had  been  defeated  on  the  proposed  timber  duties, 
and  it  was  only  at  the  King's  instance  that  they  remained 
in  office. 

'  Wednesday  Evening  [23  March,  1831]. 

'  You  know  that  we  have  arrived  at  the  fit  termination 
of  Lord  J.  Russell's  bill,  for  the  Whigs  do  not  pretend  they 
can  proceed  with  it.  Indeed  to-day  they  have  held  Cabinet 
Council  as  to  immediate  dissolution  of  Parliament,  but  I 
believe  they  do  not  foresee  their  gain  in  this,  and  are  going 
on  with  the  Civil  List,  as  decency  extorts  from  them  a 
tardy  attention  to  the  personal  comfort  of  the  King,  who 
has  had  to  receive  a  quarter's  salary  as  Duke  of  Clarence, 
for  pocket  money. 

'  I  believe  the  Queen  is  much  against  dissolution  of  Parlt. 
at  the  bidding  of  the  Whigs,  whom  by  this  time  she  cannot 
but  detest,  and  dread  :    but  the  K.  hesitates  between  her 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    277 

influence,  and  his  mob  popularity,  so  that  perhaps  the 
Whigs  do  not  think  fit  to  put  their  power  with  W.  rv.  to 
the  test ;  and  as  they  are  out  of  office,  whenever  Sir  R. 
Peel's  party  use  the  means  in  their  power,  perhaps  the  evils 
of  a  new  Parliament  may  be  averted,  which  will  allow 
time  for  better  thoughts.  For  it  seemed  to  me  that  Sir 
R.  P.  did  not  speak  on  the  question  for  2d  reading  because 
he  could  not  do  so,  unless  avowing  consent  or  dissent  as 
to  the  necessity  of  some  reform  of  Parlt.  ;  most  of  his  friends 
who  spoke  yielding  so  far  to  the  popular  voice,  or  themselves 
thinking  reform  of  Parliament  necessary  ;  so  do  you  and  I, 
but  not  for  other  reason  than  that  the  present  state .  of 
things  is  (nationally  speaking)  dangerous  and  intolerable, 
the  duration  of  every  supposeable  Administration  being 
much  at  the  mercy  of  the  press,  and  with  no  security  against 
the  chance  of  any  prevalent  popular  delusion. 

'  Lord  J.  Russell  seems  to  have  abandoned  in  pure  despair 
of  maintainable  attitude  the  silliest  and  wickedest  whiggery 
of  his  bill,  whereby  he  and  some  two  or  three  others  of  the 
Privy  Council  were  to  settle  at  their  discretion  the  com- 
ponent parts  of  three  fourths  of  the  boroughs  which  they 
condescend  to  leave  in  existence  (if  in  propriety  of  speech 
boroughs  can  exist  without  corporate  rights  of  voting). 
This  high  function  rarely  exercised  by  Parlt.  itself  in  single 
delinquent  boroughs,  he  allows  ought  to  be  further  con- 
sidered ;  but  he  hopes  the  Opposition  will  be  so  good  as 
to  invent  for  him  some  better  mode  of  doing  this — a  pleasant 
devolution  of  employment  to  enemies  of  the  bill,  to  do  for 
him  what  he  cannot  do  himself,  the  author  of  it.  Every 
borough  and  its  intended  satellites  would  create  a  lengthened 
investigation,  and  if  appeal  allowed,  twenty  years  would 
elapse  before  this  task  (itself  a  creature  for  spawning  Whig 
influence)  could  be  so  finished,  as  to  go  to  work  in  member 
of  Parlt.  making.  Having  considered  the  matter  on  all 
sides  during  some  of  our  hours  of  debate,  I  am  clear  in  pre- 
ference of  your  scheme  for  electing  electors.  There  is  no 
other  way  of  arriving  at  a  definitive  sound  arrangement 
such  as  can  bear  argument,  and  exhibit  impregnable  defence 


278    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

if  once  established,  without  which  ingredient  reform  is 
but  the  preface  to  reform  without  end,  in  which  process 
the  anarchists  would  not  fail  to  succeed  sooner  or  later  in 
their  efforts,  which  are  argus-eyed.  The  baseless  con- 
fidence of  Lord  J.  R.  that  his  reform  would  produce  a  limit 
of  reform,  I  cannot  understand — to  me  an  unintelligible 
self-delusion,  yet  I  think  sincere, — for  three  months'  experi- 
ence of  modern  Whiggery  in  office  has  lowered  estimation 
of  their  intellect  to  this  grade,  without  in  the  least  raising 
that  of  their  morality.  For  their  very  reform  (if  human 
nature  do  not  suddenly  change)  is  but  their  own  death 
warrant  delayed — it  reminds  one  of  the  exclamation  of 
Catiline  when  he  rushed  into  hopeless  rebellion. 

'  Things  are  come  to  this  position  :  unless  the  friends  of 
good  government  emulate  in  some  degree  the  activity  of 
the  enemies  of  all  govt.,  no  administration  can  count  on 
stability — can  be  useful  at  home  or  respectable  abroad. 
If  the  friends  of  good  govt,  would  combine  in  a  corporation 
society  (which  seems  only  to  require  a  first  move  or  move- 
ment among  the  rich  in  the  city)  the  press  might  perhaps  find 
its  interest  in  comparative  moderation,  and  the  anarchists  be 
repressed.  The  experiment  ought  to  be  tried  before  adven- 
turing on  any  reform  of  Parlt.  or  on  a  new  election.  (Saturday 
morning).  Supposing  dissolution  of  Parliament  not  to  happen 
immediately  as  is  now  currently  reported — but  some  say 
not  till  actually  in  the  Committee  on  the  bill  (14  April) — 
I  will  try  to  put  my  thoughts  in  shape  to-morrow.' 

The  motion  for  going  into  committee  on  the  Reform  Bill 
was  made  on  April  18,  and  General  Gascoyne  proposed  to 
move  that  the  number  of  representatives  from  England 
and  Wales  should  not  be  diminished.  The  division  on 
this  latter  motion,  taken  on  April  19,  resulted  in  a  defeat 
for  the  Government  by  299  to  291,  whereupon  they  advised 
the  King  to  dissolve  Parliament,  the  formal  prorogation  of 
which  took  place  on  April  22,  amidst  considerable  uproar. 
This  will  be  sufficient  comment  on  the  next  three  letters 
from  Rickman,  who  remained  in  the  conviction  that  light 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    279 

would  eventually  dawn  upon  the  electors.     It  was  a  most 
gross  delusion. 

'  April  14,  1831. 

' .  .  .  Our  precious  reformers  expect  to  be  beaten  as  to 
England  retaining  513  members  ;  but  will  not  be  sorry  for 
that,  calculating  on  so  much  more  influence,  as  they  have 
more  seats  to  distribute.  They  really  seem  in  earnest  with 
their  foolish  bill,  although  it  seems  impossible  (even  with 
Whig  prejudices)  not  to  foresee  their  own  sure  destruction 
following  close  after  the  triumphal  psean. 

'  I  think  they  will  withdraw  this,  and  bring  in  a  new  bill, 
or  play  off  some  such  trick  as  may  keep  them  in  to  the  end 
of  the  session,  and  then  they  have  £  year  of  undisturbed 
official  existence  in  sure  prospect.  At  all  events  they  will 
be  unmasked  finally,  and  nothing  can  be  more  useful. 
The  very  mob  begin  to  dislike  ten  pounder  masters,  who 
are  indeed  the  basest  persons  in  human  society — the  very 
sharks  of  bribery  in  all  our  election  petition  evidence,  and 
not  too  numerous  to  be  bribed.  The  mob  of  universal 
suffrage  men  could  present  the  saving  quality  of  difficulty 
or  impossibility  in  their  very  numbers.  .  .  .' 

Ap.  19,  1831.     12  o'clock  Tuesday  Morning. 

' .  .  .  Yesterday  two  rumours  were  launched  by  the 
Whigs,  one  that  Parliament  should  be  dissolved  on  Wednes- 
day, the  other  that  they  would  modify  their  bill,  meaning 
to  tide  it  over  on  pretence  of  the  new  census  in  May  next. 

'  Last  week,  Lord  J.  R.  fearing  the  success  of  Genl. 
Gascoyne's  motion,  said  that  if  the  sense  of  the  House  was 
in  favour  of  it,  he  saw  no  surrender  of  principle  in  accom- 
modating the  bill  to  it.  Two  days  after  Mr.  Stanley  and 
Lord  Althorp  said  Lord  J.  R.  had  been  misunderstood  and 
that  it  could  not  be  conceded  (this  to  gratify  their  worthy 
ally  O'Connell  and  other  Irish  friends,  who  vote  for  the 
bill,  bribed  by  the  surrender  of  English  franchise,  of  tax- 
paying  England— on  the  principle  of  pauper  population  in 
Ireland  being  very  numerous).    Yesterday  after  two  vacil- 


280    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

lations  (at  10  and  2  o'clock)  comes  down  Lord  J.  R.  with 
an  amended  bill,  giving  half  of  what  was  required  ;  31 
members  left  out  of  62  (or  rather  72)  intended  to  have  been 
retained  from  England,  for  trafficking  purposes  in  the 
progress  of  the  Whig  bill.  But  Genl.  G.  does  not  swallow 
the  bait,  and  when  the  discussion  closes,  it  is  said  that  the 
Whigs  will  be  defeated  by  majority  of  26.  I  should  rather 
say  half  that  number. 

'  Lord  Grey  said  this  evening  in  the  Ho.  Peers  how  much 
he  regretted  that  Brougham  was  taken  from  the  Ho.  Commons 
before  he  made  his  reform  of  Parlt.  motion,  which  would  have 
been  mild  and  acceptable  compared  with  the  Whig  bill ; 
intended  indeed  as  a  shield  between  the  Govt,  and  the 
failure  of  budget  and  desperate  in  proportion  to  the  necessity 
of  the  case.  Now,  in  fact,  Brougham's  threat  in  the  Ho. 
Commons  to  bring  in  a  Reform  bill  made  him  L.  Chancellor ; 
Lord  Grey  sending  for  him  that  evening,  and  making  him 
accept  or  reject  the  sudden  offer  without  a  moment's  delay, 
thereby  preventing  the  said  B.  from'  conference  with  his 
hungry  party,  who  had  claims  in  plenty.  So  that  if  any 
peer  had  said  to  the  veracious  Premier,  you  he, — and  know 
you  He — what  would  the  noble  lord  have  said?  The 
result  of  all  is,  that  the  Whigs  knowing  that  their  success 
in  this  their  attempt  at  reform  is  the  future  ruin  of  them- 
selves, yet  they  hate  their  successors  enough  to  act  on 
Catiline's  resolve, — Med  ruind  extinguam. 

'  Greater  wickedness  no  statesman  ever  conceived.  It  was 
bad  enough  even  in  the  Roman  traitor.' 

'  24  April  1831. 

'  Last  evening  produced  the  proclamation  for  dissolu- 
tion of  Parliament,  and  here  I  am  Sunday  afternoon  writing 
on  a  large  sheet  of  paper,  in  recollection  of  the  days  of  no 
franking,  which  do  not  exceed  a  fortnight,  and  in  the 
interim  I  have  means  of  receiving  letters  without  expence. 
Our  St.  Margaret's  window  1  will  be  best  as  a  finale,  and  I 

1  It  was  intended  to  include  Rickman's  description  of  the  antiquities  of 
St.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  in  the  Colloquies. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    281 

think  in  fact  you  must  attend  the  meetimg  of  Parliament, 
I  had  nearly  said  your  duty  in  Parliament — for  a  watch- 
man at  hand  will  be  useful  in  these  troublous  times. 

'  Whether  the  Radical  Ministry  will  gain  numerically  by 
the  dissolution  is  not  certain.  I  think  they  will,  but  I  also 
think  that  time  for  truth  to  break  through  the  artificial 
mist  (in  which  the  half-taught  and  therefore  doubly  ignorant 
classes  are  enveloped  by  the  unanimous  press)  will  be 
gained,  so  that  many  a  man  who  goes  into  the  House  a 
Radical  on  the  14th.  June  may  find  cause  in  himself  or  his 
constituents  to  be  a  good  subject  at  Xtmas.  I  believe  the 
tactic  of  the  Radical  Govt,  to  be  solely  directed  to  dura- 
tion in  office,  and  that  when  Parliament  meets,  it  will  be 
thought  by  them  too  late  in  the  year  to  do  more  than  lay 
on  the  table  a  new  edition  of  their  bill.  If  they  have  a 
majority  in  numbers,  this  will  keep  them  in  till  Xtmas  ; 
and  my  notion  of  such  intention  is  much  fortified  by  acci- 
dentally knowing  that  they  at  first  thought  of  stretching 
the  necessary  52  days  to  60  for  the  meeting  of  the  new 
Parliament,  which  yet  seems  late  enough  in  the  year  to  do 
no  more  than  gallop  through  the  supplies,  and  the  private 
bills  left  unfinished  now.  On  the  whole  I  congratulate 
myself  personally  on  7  weeks  holiday,  which  I  shall  try  to 
employ  to  good  purpose.  .  .  .' 

During  the  holiday  the  Colloquies  proceeded  apace. 
Rickman  had  finally  decided  to  maintain  his  part  under 
the  name  of  '  Metretes,'  which  is  an  allusion  to  his  favourite 
motto,  fierpov  apuiTov,  '  Moderation  is  best.'  These  first 
slips  printed  by  Lovell  had  reached  Southey  on  March  24, 
and  by  the  beginning  of  May  the  project  was  ripe  for  com- 
munication to  Murray.  Southey  also  wished  to  show  the 
proofs  to  Wordsworth,  as  he  feared  that  Coleridge  would 
'  travel  from  Dan  to  Beersheba  in  the  margin.'  Southey 
sent  a  letter  to  Murray,  suggesting  an  interview  with 
Rickman,  which  the  latter  thus  describes  on  May  6. 

'  .  .  .  I  sent  Mumjy's  letter  yesterday  evening  from  the 
Gerrard  St.  twopenny  post.     Forthwith  he  trudged  hither 


282    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

through  the  rain  to  inquire  of  the  opus,  of  which  he  said  he 
formed  high  expectation  from  your  letter.  It  happened 
a  week  since,  Mrs.  Rickman  met  him  at  Mr.  S.  Turner's. 
I  suppose  he  had  taken  a  glass  too  much  from  the  manner 
in  which  he  addressed  her  about  you — with  great  admira- 
tion, but  lamenting  that  you  did  not  write  for  the  public, 
in  popular  form  and  taste.  So  I  told  him  Mrs.  R.'s  report 
of  the  conversation,  and  asked  if  I  could  be  any  use  in 
giving  you  a  hint.  With  some  little  embarrassment  he 
confessed  he  thought  colloquy  not  so  acceptable  as  other 
forms.  I  said  perhaps  so  now,  but  that  I  found  most 
scholars  better  pleased  with  Cicero  in  the  Senectute,  etc., 
than  in  his  Offices  and  formal  attempts.  He  affected  to 
know  this,  and  to  yield  his  opinion  readily.  .  .  .' 

Meanwhile  the  elections  had  proceeded  to  the  cry  of 
'the  bill,  the  whole  bill,  and  nothing  but  the  bill,'  and  amidst 
great  popular  excitement.  The  Government  found  itself 
with  a  large  majority  in  the  Commons.  On  June  24  the 
new  Reform  bill,  differing  little  from  the  old  one,  was 
introduced  by  Lord  John  Russell.  On  July  8  it  passed 
second  reading  by  a  majority  of  136.  But  the  Govern- 
ment was  not  out  of  the  wood.  Owing  to  opposition 
obstruction,  and  O'Connell's  quarrel  with  the  Ministry 
over  the  '  tithe- war '  in  Ireland,  the  committee  stage  was 
prolonged  till  September  7.  The  bill  passed  third  reading 
on  the  21st  by  109,  but  after  a  second-reading  debate  in 
the  Lords  lasting  five  nights  it  was  rejected  by  41.  On 
the  20th  Parliament  was  prorogued,  but  Grey  remained 
in  office  with  the  intention  of  introducing  a  third  bill  in 
the  next  session.  Several  letters  from  Rickman  cover 
this  period. 

'  26  June  1831. 

1  .  .  .  The  new  Ho.  Commons  are  better  looking,  and 
better  behaved  people  than  the  last,  and  I  am  willing  to 
argue  well  from  physiognomy.  The  inconvenience  to  be 
apprehended  is  just  that  which  Lord  A.  apprehends  in  his 
mention  of  Sir  R.  Peel,  that  by  reason  of  his  frozen  un- 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    283 

cordial  manner,1  nobody  personally  likes  him,  and  as  a 
grand  apostate  he  has  no  right  to  claim,  nor  appearances  to 
justify  confidence  in  him.  I  confess  that  in  fact  I  expect 
he  will  be  in  office  with  the  Whigs  before  Xtmas,  for  his 
knowledge  of  Parly,  tactics  and  public  business  and  his 
eloquence  (which  from  out-of-office  leisure  grows  powerful, 
from  the  opposite  cause  which  ruins  that  of  Sir  J.  Graham 
and  the  other  Whig  Radicals).  His  eloquence  is  quite  un- 
matched at  present,  and  alone  would  shame  the  rogues 
out  of  office,  which  yet  he  will  not  take  with  any  chance  of 
holding  it.  I  believe  long  continuance  in  office,  that  is, 
in  a  crowd  of  business  so  harassing  as  to  admit  no  inter- 
ruption from  human  feelings  and  unconstrained  intercourse 
with  family  and  friends,  to  create  no  attachment,  and  even 
to  cease  to  feel  any,  has  unfitted  Sir  R.  Peel  for  being  the 
focus  or  polestar  of  any  party,  and  this  at  present  is  sad 
for  England,  as  the  Radical  party  (all  volunteers  or  zealots 
in  a  bad  cause)  can  only  be  well  opposed  by  parliamentary 
combination  under  a  good  general.  Our  best  hope  is  that 
in  the  Committee  on  the  bill,  there  will  be  woeful  discord 
among  those  who  mean  mischief  and  those  who  are  hitherto 
dupes,  the  last  party  being  vastly  the  most  numerous. 

'  The  bill  was  withdrawn  during  the  8  weeks  recess, 
omitting  the  division  of  counties,  and  the  Privy  Council 
Office  Committee  ;  but  they  have  been  twitted  with  "  the 
whole  bill  and  nothing  but  the  bill,"  so  effectually  as  to 
have  altered  nothing  but  the  Committee  into  Commissioners 
to  be  appointed  by  the  bill.  Not  so  silly  and  indecorous  as 
the  other  scheme,  but  of  like  effect. 

'  Sir  James  Graham  having  struck  off  publickly  in  one 

1  The  following  is  an  extract  from  Greville's  Diary  for  March  1831  : — 
'  I  continue  to  hear  great  complaints  of  Peel — of  his  coldness,  incommuni- 
cativeness,  and  deficiency  in  all  the  qualities  requisite  for  a  leader,  par- 
ticularly at  such  a  time.  There  is  nobody  else,  or  he  would  be  deserted  for 
any  man  who  had  talents  enough  to  take  a  prominent  part,  so  much  does 
he  disgust  his  adherents.  Nobody  knows  what  are  his  opinions,  feelings, 
wishes,  or  intentions  ;  he  will  not  go  en  avant,  and  nobody  feels  any 
dependence  upon  him.  There  is  no  help  for  it  and  a  man's  nature  can't  be 
altered.' 


284    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

affair,  notoriously  in  a  second,  and  privately  in  a  third, 
now  thinks  to  turn  Drawcansir,1  and  to  retrieve  his  valorous 
reputation  by  saying  "  unprovoked  with  ire  " — that  he 
proposes  to  answer  anybody  not  in  the  House  but  in 
private,  who  shall  impugn  his  character.  This  was  received 
with  a  grunt,  of  unpleasant  sound  to  him  I  daresay.  .  .  .' 

<  29th  June  1831. 
' .  .  .  The  Whigs  have  not  said  that  they  will  not  pass  the 
Reform  bill  through  the  House  previously  to  the  recess  : 
rather  they  insinuate  that  they  will  allow  to  the  end  of 
August  for  the  two  Houses  to  pass  the  bill  (a  month  each), 
but  I  think  this  cannot  happen,  as  the  Tories  of  the  H.  C. 
mean  to  resist  pertinaciously  throughout  the  Committee, 
in  order  to  give  fair  ground  to  the  peers  to  resist  and  reject 
the  bill,  as  not  carried  with  any  appearance  of  concurrence 
in  the  Ho.  Commons.  I  suppose  by  the  continuance  of 
Lord  Shaftesbury  as  Chairman  of  Committees  there  is  a 
decided  majority  against  the  bill  in  the  Ho.  Lords,  and  we 
may  suppose  some  of  them  (such  as  Marquis  Stafford  and 
M.  Cleveland)  will  open  their  eyes,  so  unaccountably 
closed  at  present,  that  each  of  them  keeps  his  son  out  of 
the  Ho.  Commons  (Lord  F.  L.  Gower  and  Lord  W.  Powlet), 
because  the  young  men  foresee  destruction  to  their  families 
and  titles  instead  of  reform  in  the  Whig  bill.  The  Bps. 
are  the  men  most  to  be  distrusted  ;  their  baseness  in  the 
R.C.  bill  has  nearly  destroyed  all  hope  of  them,  if  pro- 
motion of  these  reverend  self-seekers  is  well  managed. 
Still  the  upshot  of  all  will  depend  more  on  uncontrollable 
contingencies  than  on  Parliament  :  I  mean  on  the  lucky 
or  unlucky  combination  of  development,  when  the  monied 
interest,  the  middle  classes,  and  perhaps  the  landed  interest 
open  their  eyes,  and  set  properly  in  full  opposition  to 
democracy  and  confiscation.  Then  will  the  dark  clouds 
be  blown  away,  as  in  1793.  We  have  other  chances  in  our 
favour,  such  as  a  No.  2.  revolution  in  France,  No.  3.  in 
Belgium,  and  a  continental  war  in  consequence. 

1  The  bully  in  Buckingham's  The  Rehearsal. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    285 

'  I  am  glad  Mr.  Wordsworth  likes  our  plain  speaking 
colloquies.  They  ought  to  be  published  at  Christmas. 
If  Murray  likes  not  a  daring  refutation  of  popular  errors, 
somebody  else  may  be  found  to  venture  the  brunt.  Large 
topics  rise  before  me — The  praises  of  prejudice  and  of 
selfishness  and  the  odious  results  of  independence.  My 
paper  is  filled.' 

'  Tuesday  Evening  [12  July]. 

'  What  with  the  Popn.  work,  the  Highland  Churches, 
and  the  Reform  bill,  I  have  more  than  enough  to  do  and 
little  time  for  thinking.  At  present  moment,  we  are  here 
undergoing  the  ceremony  of  successive  divisions  on  the 
qn.  of  adjournment,  urged  by  the  foolish  portion  of  the 
Tories,  much  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  party,  who  thus 
early,  and  on  such  trivial  occasion,  cannot  agree  in  their 
mode  of  resistance  against  the  bill. 

'  The  Whigs  are  wholly  governed  by  the  newspapers, 
the  popular,  and  Mr.  O'Connell — a  short  threat  from  whom 
has  prevented  them  from  disarming  his  Irish  subjects, 
although  this  was  rumoured  as  the  formal  and  even  un- 
willing decision  of  the  full  Cabinet  as  on  a  matter  of  clear 
necessity.  The  Ministry  cannot  carry  their  bill  in  the  Ho. 
Peers,  and  project  a  Coronation  as  a  fair  excuse  for  large 
creation,  and  this  will  vilify  that  house,  so  that  nobody 
will  wish  to  save  it  from  destruction.  Wherefore  I  think 
even  the  slaves  to  the  mob  and  Reform  will  hesitate  before 
they  really  do  thus.' 

'  Wednesday  [13  July]. 

1  You  will  find  we  were  all  night  deciding  the  House  upon 
a  question  of  adjournment  in  which  both  parties  allowed 
during  7  hours  that  they  were  contending  for  nothing  ; 
ergo,  both  equally  wrong  in  so  disgracing  the  House. 

'Sir  R.  Peel  went  home  at  12,  refusing  to  be  party  to 
this  ;  a  sad  proof  how  little  the  Tories  cohere,  but  his  ice- 
cold  distant  manner  attaches  nobody,  and  I  should  not  be 
surprised  if  he  takes  sulk  from  the  defection  of  last  night 


286    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

of  |  of  his  adherents,  who  almost  in  words  abjured  him  as 
leader.1 

'  Sad  work  all  this  ;  and  intolerably  foolish  pertinacity 
in  that  side  to  which  all  the  blame  will  be  attributed  by  the 
Press  and  the  populace.' 

'  25/26  July  1831. 

' .  .  .  We  go  on  in  the  Reform  bill  about  as  fast  or  about 
as  slow  as  expected,  but  the  Government  are  dispirited  not 
only  at  their  own  defect  of  answer  or  argument,  but  as  fore- 
seeing that  their  labours  will  be  lost  in  the  Ho.  Peers,  where 
it  is  said  they  already  expect  a  defeat,  by  a  growing  majority 
of  65  ;  too  many  for  any  profligate  creation  of  peers  to 
overcome,  seeing  that  such  creation  is  prohibited  by  the 
adverse  feeling  of  their  friendly  peers,  who  like  not  to  be 
thus  degraded.  They  are  to  venture  about  three  or  four 
creations  of  plebeians,  [and]  about  15  of  eldest  sons,  pre- 
maturely moved  from  home  to  the  Upper  House. 

*  We  do  not  despair  of  strong  opposition  on  leading 
points  ;  on  £10  voters  (in  fact,  rulers  of  the  realm),  the 
division  of  counties,  and  the  Riding  Commission  ;  and 
moreover  the  Whigs  begin  to  discover  one  after  another 
that  they  will  not  be  sure  of  re-appearing  here  if  their 
monster  bill  should  become  law.  Candidates  of  lower 
grade  are  at  work  everywhere,  and  then  (unless  where 
conquered  by  bribery)  will  prevail. 

'  It  is  said  the  Lords  will  entertain  the  bill  by  deciding 
not  to  notice  it  till  the  Scottish  and  Irish  bills  pass  the 
Ho.  Commons,  and  this  evasion,  by  whatever  majority 
carried,  will  be  sufficient  indication  of  what  will  happen — 
that  is,  the  Whigs  will  not  find  it  worth  while  to  plague  us 

1  Greville  alludes  to  this  debate  in  his  Diary  for  July  14,  1831  : — 
'  The  effects  of  Peel's  leaving  the  party  to  shift  for  itself  were  exhibited 
the  night  before  last.  He  went  away  .  .  .  and  the  consequence  was  that 
they  went  on  in  a  vexatious  squabble  of  repeated  adjournments  till  8  o'c. 
in  the  morning,  when  the  Govt,  at  last  beat  them.  The  Oppn.  gradually 
dwindled  down  to  25  .  .  .  while  the  Govt,  kept  180  together  to  the  last.  .  .  . 
After  these  two  nights  it  is  impossible  not  to  consider  the  Tory  party  as 
having  ceased  to  exist  for  all  practical  and  legitimate  ends  of  pol:  association. 
.  .  .  There  is  still  a  rabble  of  Opposition,  etc' 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  HICKMAN    287 

with  those  additional  monsters,  especially  as  the  absurd 
novelty  of  measuring  representation  otherwise  than  by 
produce  of  taxation  will  overwhelm  us  with  sturdy  Irish 
beggars,  already  strenuous  for  public  grants  to  Irish  pur- 
poses, the  said  Irish  not  paying  a  farthing  in  direct  taxation 
and  the  collecting  of  absentee  rental  costing  about  £800,000 
in  the  Irish  Establishment.' 

'  Wednesday  Evening  [Aug.  10]. 

'  We  have  jumped  forward  on  the  returning  officer 
clause,  and  I  think  the  ten  pound  electors  will  be  on  the 
anvil  in  the  beginning  of  next  week.  ...  As  to  the  wide 
door  for  imitating  Liverpool  bribery,  that  argument  will  not 
be  omitted.  Perhaps  the  effect  of  the  extinction  of  the  40/ 
freeholders  in  Ireland  proves  that  universal,  or  at  least 
scot  and  lot,  suffrage  would  allow  much  more  influence  to 
the  wealthy,  than  the  £10  franchise  ;  it  is  plain  the  landed 
aristocracy  in  Ireland  have  lost  all  their  former  influence, 
by  similar  £10  franchise  which  hits  the  level  of  priestly 
influence  and  half  independence,  as  if  by  artificial  adjust- 
ment. If  I  opposed  the  senseless  bill,  I  would  move,  in 
preference  to  £10,  suffrage  to  pot- wallopers,  or  at  least  all 
rate  payers,  whereby  the  50  Radicals  now  in  the  House 
would  and  must  vote  against  Government  and  the  ten 
pound  voters,  who  are  the  basest  and  vilest  class  of  men  in 
the  kingdom.  Nor  would  my  preference  be  feigned — partly 
because  it  would  at  least  make  the  quick-sand  bill  more  like 
firm  ground,  solid  brimstone  in  pandemonium  but  not 
in  perpetual  throes  and  explosion.  .  .  . 

'  Farewell,  I  am  in  good  spirits,  although  in  over  work, 
House  of  Commons  and  Popn.  being  two  heavy  weights, 
but  the  infinite  blunder  of  the  wicked  Whigs  in  foreign 
affairs,  paralleled  only  by  their  immortal  budget,  will  be 
matter  of  history,  and  the  Peel  currency  bill  (however  ill 
judged  concession  to  the  said  Whigs)  will  frighten  everybody 
in  good  time,  and  turn  the  tide,  for  it  is  plain  any  man  will 
hoard  gold,  or  at  least  keep  such  a  sum  by  him,  as  to  half 
ruin  all  shopkeepers  and  artizans  and  give  them  a  salutary 


288    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

foretaste  of  Reform.  Also  the  Government  must  forthwith 
suspend  payment  of  the  saving-bank  men,  who  thereupon 
must  enlist  on  the  right  side.  Thus  good  will  grow  from 
evil.  .  .  .' 

Thursday  [Aug.  11]. 

'  Last  evening  O'Connell's  squadron  of  Irish  Devils — 
he  rates  them  at  40 — testified  through  his  mouth  their 
sudden  quarrel  with  the  Whigs,  whom  they  have  driven  to 
some  unavoidable  rebellion  against  O'Connell's  wishes. 
I  suspect  he  required  all  Protestant  yeomanry  to  be  dis- 
armed, and  this  the  Whig  absentees  thought  portended  no 
increase  of  their  Irish  rents.  This  squadron  of  40  are  now 
at  the  service  of  the  present  Opposition,  and  boast  they 
can  put  out  or  in  any  party  by  their  weight  in  either  scale. 
This  looks  well,  as  it  is  likely  to  lead  to  combination  on  this 
side  St.  George's  Channel  as  well  as  the  other.' 

<  17th  August  1831. 

'  .  .  .  The  senseless  bill  founders  in  every  particular, 
— not  a  word  uttered  in  defence  of  it.  The  Whiggery  too 
is  attacked  by  the  Radical  Press,  and  if  Milord  Grey  not 
speedily  out  of  office,  he  is  to  withdraw  it  as  rather  cumbrous 
in  its  machinery  ;  and  after  an  adjournment  of  a  fortnight, 
reproduce  another  hopeful  chrysalis.  I  approve  of  adjourn- 
ment for  any  reason  whatever,  you  will  rightly  conclude, 
being  insufferably  worked  to  no  purpose.  Yet  in  good 
health  and  spirits.' 

'  25/30  August  1831. 

'  We  make  little  way  in  the  senseless  bill.  As  far  as  it 
went  to  abolish  and  beat  down,  the  operation  was  simple 
though  foolish  and  unjust,  but  when  it  begins  to  create, 
and  therein  seeks  to  prove  negatives,  (that  unforeseen  diffi- 
culty and  mischief  will  not  arise  from  any  clause)  the  affair 
becomes  complex  in  infinite  proportion,  and  here  we  are 
likely  to  sit  accordingly.  The  Coronation  is  to  create 
about  15  peers,  but  this  is  only  to  gratify  so  many  Whigga- 
mores,  for  I  do  not  think  that  anybody  now  fails  to  foresee 


LltfE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    289 

entire  revolution  if  the  bill  passes,  and  the  Whigs  tremble 
at  the  possible  success  of  their  own  sweet  bill.  .  .  . 

'  In  our  own  affair,  I  have  been  thinking,  you  should 
expunge  all  blame  of  the  Press,  as  issuing  from  the  mouth 
of  Metretes  :  in  order  that  when  you  open  your  plan  of 
reform,  we  may  strike  a  harder  blow  at  the  execrable  abuse 
of  the  Press,  by  showing  that  your  gradation  of  representa- 
tion would  so  completely  abolish  all  chance  of  usurpation 
in  Government,  that  the  licence  now  held  to  be  necessary 
as  a  rude  corrective,  in  conjunction  with  mobs  and  juries, 
would  no  longer  be  needful  and  therefore  without  excuse. 
Much  I  think  might  be  urged  on  this  basis. 

'  The  Radicals  are  become  so  troublesome  and  dangerous 
to  Government  that  I  expect  the  Whigs  and  Tories  are 
trying  to  coalesce.  The  D.  of  W.  and  Lord  Grey  have  met 
on  some  fair  excuse,  and  Sir  Robert  Peel's  opposition  is 
more  and  more  measured.  He  grows  intimate  with  nobody, 
and  I  presume  will  use  no  argument  which  can  give  offence 
to  the  mob  of  any  grade.  The  ten  pound  householders  he 
did  not  speak  against  at  all,  and  I  suppose  he  will  soon 
say,  that  trade  stagnates  so  much  from  the  prolonged  dis- 
cussion, that  it  will  be  better  to  expedite  the  bill  to  the  Lords 
for  rejection.  Thus  will  he  escape  the  unpopularity  of 
strenuous  resistance.  I  do  not  think  that  anj^body  pos- 
sesses more  good  arguments  which  he  deems  unspeakable, 
and  perhaps  in  proportion  to  their  power.  Thus  I  fear 
he  is  not  worth  prompting.  But  he  will  not  do  anything 
very  wrong,  and  his  eloquence  and  habits  of  labour  in  office 
are  indispensable  to  any  strong  Government,  for  all  our 
pigmy  statesmen  in  mass  could  scarcely  compose  a  Govt, 
of  decent  strength  or  capacity.  We  seem  to  lack  some 
stirring  event  to  produce  something  better,  if  the  whole 
generation  of  mankind  be  not  really  emasculated,  by  having 
read  nothing  but  reviews  ;  all  the  little  knowledge  they 
have  being  second  or  third  hand,  and  reproducing  nothing, 
like  seed  two  or  three  years  old,  and  effete  as  to  procrea- 
tion. How  many,  or  rather  how  few,  M.P.s  have  ever  read 
a  folio,  nay  a  quarto  author,  unless  perhaps  of  travels  ? 

T 


290    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

Every  subject  discussed  displays  mere  penury  of  know- 
ledge and  deep  thought,  and  this  lamentable  symptom  has 
been  increasing  till  the  race  of  men,  of  thinking  men,  is 
nearly  extinct. 

'  Mr.  Sadler  is  talking  of  Irish  Poor  Rates  this  evening, 
and  says  the  poor  have  a  right  to  relief ,  not  to  be  poor  ;  if 
the  application  of  this  principle  is  to  be  judged  by  the  'poor 
all  property  of  course  is  extinct. 

'  Per  contra,  Torrens  pours  out  all  the  nonsense  of  political 
economy,  of  transition,  etc.  So  that  we  cannot  tell  which 
errs  most  widely.  My  Population  goes  on  well,  and  though 
I  grumble  at  wasting  12  hours  in  24  here,  I  must  allow 
that  the  dissolution  of  the  last  Parliament  gave  me  a  precious 
7  weeks,  in  which  I  issued  infinite  instructions  and  placed 
all  the  machinery  in  such  order,  as  nothing  else  could  have 
enabled  me  to  do.  Now  I  have  good  materials  in  posses- 
sion, and  if  I  cannot  produce  results  quite  so  soon  as  if 
there  were  no  Reform  bill,  that  is  of  less  moment.' 

A  fragment  from  Southey  written  on  September  1  is 
also  worth  quoting  : — 

'  1  Sept.  1831. 

'  .  .  .  The  bill  and  the  Ministry  are  likely  to  go  together, 
and  I  make  little  doubt  that  Sir  R.  Peel  will  have  to  gather 
up  the  fragments  of  both,  and  make  what  he  can  out  of 
them.  .  .  .  Never  before  was  poor  England  so  befooled, 
be-pressed,  be-whigged,  and  be-devilled.  But  it  is  some 
satisfaction  to  think  that  they  who  have  brought  things 
to  this  pass  are  in  a  fair  way  to  be for  their  pains.' 

Meanwhile,  in  spite  of  the  industry  of  Rickman  and 
Southey,  and  the  fact  that  six  plates — views  of  the  Lakes 
— had  been  engraved  by  William  Westall,  there  was  a 
hitch  in  the  Colloquies.  It  seems  that  Murray  on  receiving 
his  first  copy  had  proceeded  to  set  it  in  type  at  his  own 
printer's,  Spottiswoode's,  and  had  expected  to  print  all 
further  copy  in  this  way.  Rickman  was  incensed  at  what 
he  considered  a  high-handed  proceeding,  and  Southey  was 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    291 

perturbed,  because  Murray  not  only  had  omitted  to  answer 
his  letters  on  the  subject,  but  had  not  paid  him  for  his  last 
contributions  to  the  Quarterly.  On  October  25  Southey 
received  news  that  Murray  was  in  seriously  embarrassed 
circumstances  owing  to  the  decline  of  the  Quarterly's  sales. 
Rickman  comments  sternly  on  this  information. 

'  28  October  1831. 

'  I  have  your  note  of  the  25  October,  which  puzzles  me, 
because  I  think  Murray  more  likely  to  go  mad,  than  bank- 
rupt. To  be  sure  he  has  thrown  away  great  sums  in  idle 
expenditure  unbefitting  a  tradesman,  and  his  Representa- 
tive x  experiment  cost  him  £14,000.  Yet  after  that  I  had 
intimate  knowledge  of  his  affairs  (as  I  thought)  from  his 
brother  the  purser,  who  speaking  with  apparent  know- 
ledge said,  that  as  Murray's  mind  had  with  difficulty  over- 
come the  failure  of  a  foolish  but  favourite  project,  all  was 
well,  and  the  loss  of  little  consequence  farther  than  keeping 
him  in  business  a  few  years  longer.  Besides,  his  non- 
correspondence  previously  to  his  now  supposed  pecuniary 
distress  was  much  like  madness  in  a  man  of  his  extensive 
business  ;  and  why  does  his  son,  who  seems  a  man  of  the 
world,  partake  of  this  defect,  which  must  ruinously  dis- 
organise all  his  affairs,  though  not  immediately.  The 
whole  is  a  riddle,  but  does  he  or  not  stop  the  progress  of  the 
Colloquies  ?  I  suppose  Spottiswoode  will  trust  him  ;  though 
the  absurd  obstinacy  of  re-setting  types  already  well  set 
(as  Murray  must  have  perceived)  savours  of  dependance 
and  money  due.  I  see  that  but  one  volume  can  come  out 
in  time  for  the  Parliament,  but  that  will  only  throw  your 
double  distilled  representation  into  the  first  volume  instead 
of  the  second,  and  without  some  of  the  (Adminicula) 
buttresses  which  might  have  helped  it  by  graceful  and 
imperceptible  induction  ;  but  it  may  be  managed  well 
enough.     I  think  Sir  James   Mackintosh  in  his  brilliant 

1  The  morning  paper  started  by  Murray  in  which  Benjamin  Disraeli 
originally  had  a  share.  It  ran  from  January  to  July  1826,  and  cost  Murray 
£26,000. 


292    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

book  of  inconclusive  generalities  (Vindiciae  Qallicae)  lauds 
the  French  notions  of  that  kind,  and  I  am  convinced  more 
and  more  that  no  other  popular  representation  is  practic- 
able, without  inducing  sure  mobocracy. 

'  I  know  not  whether  Parliament  will  meet  for  a  few 
days  in  December  to  permit  the  Whigs  to  produce  another 
bill  for  the  amusement  of  Xtmas  holidays.  They  have 
fallen  low  in  their  own  estimation  I  well  perceive,  and  are 
in  a  down-hill  state  with  the  more  honest  mob.  Farewell. 
I  am  going  to  dine  with  Mrs.  Rickman  at  Windsor,  Cras 
rediturus.  Let  me  know  what  you  think  of  a  solitary 
volume  ?  I  think  the  time  critical,  for  the  half -reformers 
Peel  &  Co.  are  more  than  half  as  mischievous  as  the  Whigs 
and  quite  as  silly  to  think  they  could  govern  with  a  half 
reform,  when  they  found,  in  the  irksome  experience  of  their 
three  last  years,  they  could  not  govern  at  all,  without  the 
degrading  concessions  of  Test  and  Corporation  Reform, 
R.  Cath.  Relief,  Beer  Bill,  Cheap  gin,  no  prosecutions  of 
the  Press — etc.  etc.  etc' 

On  November  14  Southey  wrote  that  the  riddle  of  Murray's 
conduct  was  solved.  In  paying  Southey  for  two  articles 
he  had  paid  at  the  rate  of  £20  per  sheet  instead  of  £100  an 
article,  pleading  the  general  stagnation  of  business.  '  With 
all  his  follies  and  negligence  and  fits  of  incivility/  says 
Southey,  '  I  am  sorry  for  him.'  Rickman  petulantly  replied 
that  Murray  had  better  go  bankrupt,  and  that  in  any  case 
he  must  decide  whether  he  would  carry  on  the  Colloquies 
or  not.  But  the  year  ended  without  any  definite  answer  be- 
ing forced  out  of  the  procrastinating  publisher,  though  he 
satisfied  Southey's  demands  for  full  payment  for  past  work. 

The  final  agitation  for  reform  is  too  common  a  matter  of 
history  to  need  more  than  bare  reference.  There  were 
riots  in  London  and  the  provinces  :  a  great  open  air  meet- 
ing was  held  at  Birmingham,  and  at  Bristol  the  mob  carried 
all  before  them,  owing  to  the  weak  conduct  of  Colonel 
Brereton,  who  commanded  the  troops.  Behind  the  scenes 
great  efforts  were    made  by  the  King  and  the  moderate 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    293 

peers  to  effect  a  compromise,  but  when  Parliament  again 
met  on  December  6  no  agreement  had  been  arrived  at.  The 
Reform  bill  was  introduced  on  December  12,  and  on  the 
16th  passed  its  second  reading  by  a  majority  of  two  to  one. 
The  committee  stage  lasted  twenty- two  nights,  and  on 
March  23  the  bill  passed  the  Commons.  The  Lords  now 
remained  to  be  dealt  with.  The  creation  of  sufficient  peers 
to  swamp  the  Opposition  was  very  objectionable  to  the 
King,  and  Grey  promised  to  propose  no  creations  at  any 
rate  before  the  second  reading,  which  was  carried  on  April  14 
by  9  votes.  Two  letters  from  Rickman  are  interesting  on 
this  period. 

'  Sunday  Evening,  5  February  1832. 

' ...  In  the  meantime  their  beautiful  reform  of  Parlia- 
ment bill  improves  in  deformity  as  it  proceeds,  and  the 
infinite  ramifications  of  Whig- jobbery  (now  that  they  are 
borough  limiting  according  as  Whig  property  is  situate 
near  every  place)  puzzles  its  parents,  and  they  have  now  in 
type  600  pp.  of  what  they  term  "  wrong  reports  "  of  boroughs, 
which  yet  we  must  possess  with  Whig  corrections,  before 
we  can  proceed  far  with  our  Commee.  on  the  Bill.  The 
introduction  of  actual  value  as  the  criterion  of  £10  seems 
to  me  a  voluntary  felo-de-se  of  the  main  principles  of  the 
new  bill.  Lord  Althorp,  a  diligent  Chairman  of  Quarter 
Sessions,  cannot  but  know  from  litigated  questions  of  settle- 
ment of  paupers  that  the  law  has  twice  declared  such 
criterion  to  be  impracticable  ;  and  the  blunder,  worthy  of 
Lord  J.  Russell,  the  dullest  of  men,  whereby  evidence  is 
virtually  to  be  admitted  on  one  side  only,  that  of  the 
claimant  to  vote,  crowns  the  mass  of  litigation  in  which 
every  parish  every  year  is  to  be  involved.  After  all  no 
other  Government  can  come  in,  and  we  look  forward  into 
a  beautiful  obscurity.  It  may  be  enlightened  by  the  torch 
of  war.  .  .  .' 

'  18  April  1832. 

c  To-day  is  arrived  your  grand  volume  iii.  of  the 
Peninsular  War.     I  thank  you  much  for  it,  but  in  general 


294    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

times  at  present,  too  much  harassed,  curis  et  negotio,  to  say 
or  do  more. 

'  Politics  are  wilder  than  ever ;  the  rebellion  in  Ireland 
being  a  palpable  concomitant  of  any  such  reform  of  Parlia- 
ment as  was  madly  promised  by  the  Whigs  in  reward  for 
Irish  support,  their  English  friends  will  not  go  to  this 
length,  and  they  must  keep  touch  with  O'Connell  and  Co. 
or  quit  office.  I  suppose  the  strength  of  the  absentees  is 
now  on  the  alert  against  obvious  consequences  of  the  Irish 
Reform,  and  the  said  absentees  act  in  squadron  on  all 
occasions  of  danger  for  their  dear  selves — and  their  dearer 
Irish  property. 

'  If  once  the  Protestants  were  put  down  by  a  Reform 
bill  supervening  in  the  open  partiality  of  the  new  Govern- 
ment to  the  R.  Catholic  dictation,  they  might  duly  be 
beaten  and  massacred  in  due  course  by  their  rascal  country- 
men, and  nothing  but  force  applied  on  the  other  side  by 
the  base  absentees  can  avert  this  evil. 

'  Whigs,  WLiggamores,  Whiggissimi.  I  have  not  thanked 
you  for  a  former  book  from  Murray — My  distraction  must 
excuse  this.' 

When  Parliament  reassembled  after  a  recess  on  May  7 
difficulties  at  once  occurred.  Lord  Lyndhurst  moved  in 
committee  that  the  consideration  of  Schedule  A.  should  be 
postponed.  On  this  question  the  Government  were  beaten, 
but  they  decided  to  make  a  stand,  recommending  the 
King  to  create  sufficient  peerages  to  pass  the  bill.  The 
only  alternative  was  for  the  King  to  accept  their  resignation, 
and  this  he  chose  to  do.  Wellington  was  ready  to  step 
into  the  breach,  but  without  Peel  he  was  helpless  ;  and  Peel, 
seeing  that  reform  was  inevitable,  refused  steadfastly  to 
adopt  a  measure  against  which  he  had  so  strongly  declared. 
Vain  efforts  were  made  by  Lyndhurst  and  Wellington  to 
make  a  Government  without  Peel  and  his  party,  but  after 
six  days  of  negotiation  Wellington  was  forced  to  accept 
the  assurance  of  Manners-Sutton  and  Alexander  Baring 
that  the  attempt  was  hopeless,  and  on  the  15th  Wellington 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OE  JOHN  RICKMAN    295 

advised  the  King  to  recall  Grey.  It  will  be  seen  that 
Rickman's  version  of  affairs  was  somewhat  distorted.  On 
May  15  he  wrote  to  Southey  : — 

« 15  May  1832. 

'  Here  we  are,  in  the  midst  of  political  confusion,  not 
worth  telling  of,  but  that  at  a  distance  such  tales  are 
acceptable. 

'  The  D.  of  W.  held  a  conclave  of  peers  before  the  Co. 
on  the  Reform  Bill,  and  they  manoeuvred  so  well,  that 
Lord  Grey  professed  desperation,  and  that  he  would  ask 
the  King  to  create  Peers  Q.S.  Then  said  Lord  Ellenborough, 
professing  to  speak  the  sense  of  his  friends  (the  conclave), 
we  are  willing  to  bid  a  little  higher  for  mob  favour  and  will 
so  pass  the  Bill. 

'  Lord  G.  having  made  ten  times  more  promises  than  he 
wished  to  make  peers  actual,  takes  advantage  of  pretended 
discomfiture,  and  puts  the  question  to  the  K.  in  such 
shape  as  to  invite  refusal,  and  the  next  day,  he  and  Lord  A. 
say  they  are  out  of  office.  The  K.  has  recourse  to  the  D. 
of  W.  who  hesitated  till  he  could  try  his  friends,  as  to 
forming  an  Administration.  But  in  this  he  fails,  Sir  R.  P. 
not  thinking  fit  to  turn  about  so  quickly,  even  Mr.  Croker 
declining  to  lead  the  Ho.  Commons,  and  respectable  men 
not  much  liking  the  trickery  on  both  sides. 

'  So  that  last  evening  upon  an  unauthorized,  I  believe 
unintentional,  phrase  or  hint  by  Mr.  A.  Baring,  it  was  said 
by  many  with  much  more  than  usual  seeming  sincerity 
and  abstraction  from  party,  that  the  Whig  Government 
ought  to  carry  through  their  own  bill,  for  good  or  for  evil. 
And  I  believe  the  D.  of  W.  sees  he  can  do  no  better  than 
follow  this  notion.  Mundus  vertitur  sicut  mola  says  some 
Dutch  emblem.  My  own  affairs  rest  till  Whitsuntide,  in 
a  favourable  position  ;  I  think  more  favourably  if  the 
Whigs  are  in  office  than  otherwise.' 

Grey's  firmness  had  its  reward.  Most  of  the  Opposition 
peers  abstained  from  voting  on  the  committee  stage,  and 


296    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

by  June  7  the  Reform  bill  received  the  royal  assent. 
Strangely  enough  there  is  no  expression  of  disgust  to  be 
found  in  Rickman's  correspondence  at  this  time.  His 
feelings  perhaps  were  too  strong  for  expression.  Reform 
had  come,  and  no  Colloquies  had  appeared  to  rouse  the 
country,  for  Murray  had  defied,  possibly  of  necessity,  all 
the  efforts  of  Southey  and  Rickman  to  get  the  printing 
done  in  their  own  way.  Rickman  professes  to  explain  his 
proceedings  in  a  letter  of  October  17. 

'  I  have  received  your  letter  of  15  Oct.,  and  now  write  my 
budget  of  intelligence  of  Mr.  Murray.  Mr.  Strahan  (King's 
Printer)  died  leaving  two  nephews,  Spottiswoodes,  in  his 
business.  The  youngest,  a  passable  kind  of  man,  died  at 
Carlisle  a  month  since  of  a  cold  caught  on  your  Lakes. 
Andrew,  who  remains,  was  in  Parlt.  to  give  the  K.  Printer's 
Vote  (fitly  due  to  Govt.),  but  he  was  ousted  on  petition 
last  Parlt.  A  most  odious  person,  very  greedy,  but  more 
morose  and  insolent,  so  that  he  actually  loses  much  by  the 
general  aversion  he  has  created  towards  himself.  He 
married  the  daughter  of  Longman,  her  portion  [being] 
that  he  should  have  all  Longman's  printing,  and  he  pushes 
his  claim  far  beyond  the  understanding  of  the  trade  in  such 
cases.  But  he  is  as  stout  as  Shylock  and  defies  ill-will. 
When  he  came  to  know  of  Murray's  embarrassment,  he  was 
ready  to  extricate  him,  provided  he  gave  security,  and  what 
Shylock  took  in  pawn  are  all  the  plates  of  the  edition  of 
Lord  Byron's  works,  of  which  Murray  cannot  sell  a  copy 
without  accounting  to  A.  Spottiswoode,  who  superadded 
(on  the  strength  of  his  forbearance  in  not  publishing 
Murray's  circumstances)  the  same  conditions  as  on  Long- 
man— to  print  all  Murray's  publications  also.  This  explains 
the  grossness  of  your  dialogue  case,  and  the  impossibility 
of  Murray's  explanation,  and  of  any  communing  with 
Sp.  If  Robt.  Sp.  had  lived,  I  was  thinking  of  making  an 
arrangement,  but  with  A.  S.  this  is  universally  known  to 
be  impossible.  He  never  answers,  yields  or  compromises. 
I  know  the  man  well,  and  shall  amuse  you  when  we  meet 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    297 

with  scenes  I  have  had  with  him  in  presence  of  his  uncle, 
or  when  he  was  dependent.  .  .  .' 

Whatever  the  rights  and  the  wrongs  of  the  matter  were, 
the  Colloquies  never  appeared,  and  the  manuscript  seems 
to  have  been  lost. 

At  the  end  of  his  letter  of  May  15  Rickman  refers 
to  'his  own  affair.'  This  was  no  less  than  a  project 
of  retiring  from  his  post  altogether,  to  devote  the  rest  of 
his  life  to  leisurely  pursuits.  Southey  heartily  praised  this 
determination  to  leave  the  disappointing  world  of  official 
labour,  and  advised  Rickman  to  betake  himself  to  those 
books  from  which  overwhelming  work  had  long  kept  him. 
Rickman  seems  to  have  anticipated  no  difficulties  at  first. 
On  January  13,  1832,  he  wrote  : — 

'  Rejoice  with  me  at  my  thus  deliverance,  still  more  you 
will  rejoice,  if  next  week  I  appear  not  at  the  Ho.  Comm., 
but  this  design  is  a  secret  yet.' 

And  again  on  February  5. 

•  5  Feb.  1832. 

1 1  foresee  no  reason  which  can  prevent  me  from  quitting 
my  hard  service  at  Easter  ;  indeed  I  think  I  have  power 
(in  the  background)  for  enforcing  it  upon  those  whose 
intrigues  stopped  me  the  other  day.  If  they  raise  any 
feeling  beyond  the  long-lived  contempt  which  they  mistake 
for  abstraction,  woe  awaits  them.  .  .  .' 

But  for  some  reason,  to  which  there  is  no  clue,  his  retire- 
ment was  postponed  again  and  again.  In  May  it  was  put 
off  till  Whitsuntide,  and  on  June  26  he  wrote  :  '  My  escape 
from  the  H.  of  C.  is  impeded  by  procrastinating  manoeuvres 
of  which  I  do  not  well  understand  the  motive  and  cannot 
overcome.'  Later  in  the  year  he  wrote  in  a  more 
despondent  mood. 

'  Ecce  iterum !  From  some  unintelligible  jobbery,  I 
am  now  told  that  as  my  legal  claim  for  retirement  accrues 


298    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

not  till  a  month  hence,  it  is  unsafe  to  go  out  upon  trust  : 
true,  I  shall  gain  £150  a  year  by  this  delay.  But  I  had 
rather  quit  now.  As  it  is,  I  have  resented  the  lateness  of 
objection  so  far  as  to  insist  on  a  country  trip  the  rest  of 
this  week,  under  colour  of  fatigue  (for  I  have  worked  so  as 
not  to  have  slept  above  3  hours  in  the  24  since  Xtmas) 
but  really  to  avoid  personal  complaints  and  civilities  upon 
issue  of  the  Popn.  Volume  ;  for  the  eclat  of  closing  my 
appearance  with  which,  I  have  so  worked.  If  you  hear 
mentioned  my  proposed  retirement,  stop  the  rumour  by 
saying  it  was  premature.  The  Tory  party  is  no  more ;  if 
they  cling  together  so  little  as  to  leave  to  ruin  our  victorious 
champion,  assailed  only  by  a  radical  dissenter  shopkeeper, 
who  can  ever  serve  them  ?  I  do  not  wonder  much  ;  but 
we  now  have  only  to  keep  as  right  as  we  can  our  Whig- 
Masters.     For  all,  we  will  do  so.' 

Nevertheless,  '  unintelligible  jobbery '  prevailed,  and 
Rickman  died  in  office  eight  years  later.  To  those 
remaining  years  a  separate  chapter  must  be  devoted.  The 
vigour  of  his  mind  was  now  on  the  decline  :  the  success  of 
the  long  drawn  out  reform  movement  had  thoroughly 
disgusted  him,  and  from  1832  onwards  the  life  seems  to 
have  left  his  trenchant  pen.  He  had  no  longer  a  cause  for 
which  to  fight. 


CHAPTER  IX 


1833-1840 


The  reformed  House  of  Commons — The  new  Devils  and  the  Whig  Devils — 
Lamb  dines  with  Rickman — Rickman  on  Wellington — The  fire  at  the 
Houses  of  Parliament — A  graphic  account — Henry  Taylor  the  hero — 
Lamb's  death — Rickman' s  comment — Southey  offered  a  baronetcy — 
The  Exchequer  demolished — Judge  Jeffreys'  house — Rickman's  ill- 
ness and  death — Tribute  of  the  House. 

The  election  after  the  Reform  bill  changed  the  state  of 
parties  in  the  House  of  Commons  less  than  was  generally 
expected.  Half  of  the  members  were  Ministerial :  there 
were  about  190  Radicals  and  freelances,  including  O'ConnelTs 
following  ;  while  it  was  calculated  that  the  '  Conservatives,' 
as  Peel's  party  was  now  called,  numbered  150,  including  the 
remainder  of  the  old  Tories.  The  chief  legislative  task  was 
the  settlement  of  the  atrocious  state  of  affairs  in  Ireland, 
which  had  been  inexcusably  neglected  in  the  agitation  for 
reform.  In  February  the  Irish  Coercion  bill  became  law, 
and  an  Irish  Church  Temporalities  bill  was  passed  by  August. 
The  new  House  showed  extraordinary  legislative  activity. 
Many  measures  of  social  reform,  including  a  bill  to  abolish 
colonial  slavery  and  the  first  general  Factory  act,  were 
added  to  the  Statute  book.  It  was  a  long  and  tiring  session, 
during  which  the  Government,  in  spite  of  its  efforts, 
declined  in  popularity,  and  there  was  a  slight  reaction  in 
the  country  in  favour  of  the  Tories.  Rickman,  as  he  says, 
had  lost  all  real  interest  in  politics,  but  several  of  his  letters 
show  that  his  power  of  caustic  comment  still  remained. 

'  Friday  Evening  [no  date]. 

' .  .  .  We  have  seen  enough  of  this  Ho.  Commons  to  see 
it  will  not  work,  and  I  suppose  everybody  will  see  this  in 


300    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

the  month  of  August.  The  composition  of  it  is  made  up 
of  about  150  Conservatives,  as  many  Radicals,  who  not 
very  covertly  go  the  length  of  republicanism  and  of  whom 
about  half  go  the  other  halfway  to  anarchy — Destructives 
I  think  is  their  title  invented  for  them  by  their  heretofore 
allies.  I  think  there  are  nearly  100  more  of  the  pledged 
men,  who  will  not  dare  to  support  the  Administration  upon 
a  pinching  question,  such  as  will  occur  too  often  for  the 
comfort,  perhaps  to  the  extinction,  of  the  said  Admn. 

'  I  put  no  faith  in  the  big  words  of  K.  W.'s  speech  versus 
K.  O'Connell  as  to  reform  of  the  Church,  and  tearing  other 
things  to  pieces,  the  miserable  position  of  the  Admn.  will 
make  them  more  than  fulfill  all  that  the  enemies  of  order 
expect  of  them.  But  I  do  not  despair  of  a  revulsion  (a 
reaction  will  not  be  enough),  and  nothing  short  of  the 
abominable  state  of  domestic,  and  colonial,  and  foreign 
affairs  (what  a  triad  !)  and  the  portentous  darkness  around 
us  as  to  the  future  would  be  enough  to  alarm  (not  too  late) 
all  the  holders  of  property,  with  regard  to  which  desirable 
end  some  one  of  the  Conservatives  (Sir  R.  Peel,  or  Mr. 
Herries)  ought  to  move  a  resolution  on  some  occasion  when 
the  House  is  going  into  a  Committee  of  Ways  and  Means, 
or  on  any  motion  for  repeal  of  any  tax,  "  That  this  House 
will  in  no  case  consent  to  any  proposal  which  shall  hazard 
the  possibility  of  keeping  faith  with  the  public  creditor." 
About  100  of  our  reformed  M.P.'s  would  object  to  this 
motion  and  the  alarm  would  perhaps  commence,  especially 
if  the  Ministers,  in  assentation  to  their  dreaded  friends, 
were  to  move  the  previous  qn. 1  in  escape  from  honesty. 
This  might  lead  to  better  things,  but  the  absurdly  timid 
reticence  upon  such  questions  as  this  is  exactly  what  the 
enemies  of  all  property  pray  for,  until  things  are  prepared 
for  suddenly  producing  their  bad-faith  as  a  thing  of  course, 
prefaced  by  the  sufferance  of  speeches  and  actions  involving 
the  principle  of  national  bad  faith  towards  the  public 
creditor.  The  intention  ought  to  be  dragged  into  daylight, 
and  its  enormity,  with  its  consequences,  fully  explained 

1  The  previous  question  is  a  motion  '  that  the  question  be  not  now  put.' 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    301 

in  its  operation  in  all  classes  above  the  actual  pick-pocket 
rabble.  Consider  whether  you  can  with  propriety  say 
anything  of  the  fitness  of  speaking  out  and  thus  making 
the  Destructives  speak  out,  so  that  a  line  of  demarcation  be 
well  traced,  and  the  plague  stayed.  .  .  .' 

■  16  Feb.  1833. 
'  The  key  to  the  conduct  of  the  present  Govt.  (I  may  say 
of  all  past  Govts.)  as  to  Ireland  is  the  dictation  of  the 
great  absentees.  "  Thus  far  shall  ye  go,  and  no  further  " 
is  said  too  potentially  for  resistance.  Unhappy  predicament 
of  the  national  happiness  !  An  absentee  expectant  from 
his  childhood  is  hardened  in  selfishness,  and  joins  the  secret 
fellowship  before  he  is  of  age.  He  sees  not  the  misery  of 
exacted  high  rents,  if  an  English  army  can  secure  them. 
In  this  view  we  pay  about  1|  millions  p.  annum  that  they 
may  receive  twice  as  much.' 

'  18  March  1833. 

'  .  .  .  Our  Pandemonium  would  be  perfectly  devilish 
and  intolerable,  did  not  the  new  Devils  cuff  and  scratch 
and  tear  to  pieces  the  Whig  Devilry  beautifully,  by  making 
speeches  in  close  imitation  of  the  factious  speeches  of  the 
latter,  and  always  refuting  their  arguments  out  of  their  own 
mouths,  or  of  the  former  mouth  of  Lord  Brougham. 

'  In  time  (how  soon  the  tormented  Whigs  must  decide) 
they  must  resist  the  Radicals  and  their  enlisted  union,  and 
I,  willing  to  do  good  in  the  day  of  need,  have  sent  in  an 
easy  plan  for  this  purpose.  It  may  lye  unexecuted  till 
remedy  is  too  late  ;  but  I  have  done  my  devoir  ;  reckoning 
this,  added  to  bringing  into  daylight  the  unavoidable  design 
to  cease  payment  of  the  National  Debt,  to  be  the  best  or 
only  practicable  steps  of  proceeding.  I  inclose  copy, 
which  however  you  will  not  shew,  though  talk  founded  on 
it  is  quite  lawful.  You  will  see  I  have  sent  it  in,  and 
through  what  channel.  Not  a  bad  one,  as  I  am  in  good 
odour,  and  deserve  to  be  so,  at  the  Home  Office. 

1  You  have  perceived  by  the  newspapers,  that  at  present 


302    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

we  are  doubly  harassed  by  the  Ho.  Commons,  and  the  Irish 
yells  are  so  fierce  and  frequent  that  I  can't  abstract  myself 
so  as  to  write  letters  etc.  at  the  table,  which  has  prevented 
me  from  writing  this  during  last  week.  .  .  .' 

'  Monday  Evening,  1  July  1833. 

'  I  am  much  obliged  to  you  for  your  letters,  inasmuch 
as  I  give  scant  return,  too  much  occupied  by  waste  of  time 
and  attention  here  and  by  the  better  occupation  of  the 
Popn.  abstract,  which  looks  towards  its  close — that  is 
England  and  Wales  finished,  Scotland  begun.  This  month 
of  July  will  cut  deep  into  the  remnant.  I  shall  produce 
three  handsome  volumes,  and  not  leave  much  undone. 
To-day  I  learn  from  one  fresh  from  the  Cambridge  meeting 
(your  well  named  Wittenagemote)  that  next  year  at  Edin: 
they  are  to  commence  a  statistical  Commee.,  "  and  who 
the  leaders  ?  "  said  I.  Dr.  Chalmers  x  and  Mr.  Malthus, 
the  first  an  orator  fluent  of  unusual  phraseology  and  in 
strange  confusion  of  ideas  and  ideal  projects  about  the 
poor — a  problem  which  he  was  attacking  practicably, 
when  you  and  I  were  together  at  Glasgow.  He  covered 
his  failure  by  removing  to  a  professorship  at  St.  Andrews  : 
I  think  he  has  since  flitted  to  Edin.  As  to  Mr.  Malthus, 
he  has  himself  profited  more  than  the  public  by  the  up-side 
down  speculations  he  began  to  produce  25  years  since  ; 
and  the  success  of  an  impossible  supposition  (refuted  per- 
petually from  the  creation  of  the  earth  to  that  day),  was 
truly  surprising,  and  the  well  marked  comment  perhaps  of 
the  decadence  of  real  knowledge  in  our  time.  Since  that 
time  the  Esse  quam  Videri  is  quite  reversed,  and  mountebank 
theorists,  praters,  and  puffers  have  the  ascendant,  because 
the  objects  of  conversation  have  increased  so  much  in 
number  that  no  conspicuous  man  can  afford  time  to  acquire 
solid  knowledge  and  to  think  solidly  on  any  one  subject. 
Yet  he  must  pretend  to  have  done  so  of  all,  and  is  not  likely 
to  dogmatize  less  because  he  knows  less,  and  hence  innova- 
tions in  all  things,  and  even  history  forgotten.  If  I  look 
1  Dr.  Thomas  Chalmers,  the  eminent  Scottish  divine  and  philanthropist. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    303 

round  me  here,  how  many  gentlemen  do  I  see  with  knowledge 
in  inverse  quantity  to  their  own  opinion  of  their  sweet  selves  ! 
To-night  they  talk  of  banking  and  currency,  which  touches 
upon  the  new  light  of  political  ceconomy,  which  one  of  my 
left  hand  debaters  just  now  ycleped  a  science,  without  joking 
in  the  least. 

'  How  the  session  is  to  end,  nobody  can  foresee.  To 
finish  their  business,  24  hours  a  day  till  Xtmas  will  not 
suffice,  so  that  in  some  manner  we  shall  arrive  at  the 
ridiculous  but  very  appropriate  termination  of  the  adventure 
of  the  cat  and  fiddle,  and  the  reformed  Parliament  in  going 
to  its  constituents  will  shew  its  hinder  parts  in  no  honour, 
nothing  done.  Generally  speaking,  the  Ministry  are  less  in 
mischievous  mood  than  they  were,  so  are  the  Radicals, 
but  a  light  accident  might  make  the  latter  rampant,  and 
their  numbers  are  such  that  they  may  gain  the  ascendant. 
I  look  on  with  great  indifference,  not  sorry  at  present  to  be 
within  view  of  the  process  going  on  before  me.  .  .  .' 

<  28  Sept.  1833. 
'  .  .  .  I  suppose  we  shall  have  the  world  in  arms  next 
year — Monarchy  or  Democracy — and  a  bit  of  a  revolution 
here,  when  the  Lord  Miltonians  have  matured  their  resist- 
ance to  taxation.  So  be  it,  say  I,  come  quickly.  It  is  the 
downhill  slide  to  perdition  which  leaves  no  chance,  and  in 
which  the  predecessors  of  the  Whigs  were  blindly  (or 
wilfully)  culpable.  ...  In  any  case  let  us  keep  up  our 
spirits.  Hard  work  does  much  in  this  behalf,  driving  away 
demons  omnigenous.  .  .  .' 

'  21  November  1833. 
'  ...  At  present  politics  are  dull.  The  Lord 
Miltonians  seem  to  be  defeated,  and  we  are  in  danger  of 
another  confused  session  of  more  and  more  concessions  to 
the  republican  taste  of  the  times.  Large  steps  in  tins 
direction  occurred  last  session  ;  the  King,  the  constitutional 
conservator  of  the  peace  if  he  be  anything,  cannot  use 
precaution  against  a  mob  meeting  for  avowed  revolution, 


304    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

but  that  two  Commees.  of  the  House  of  Commons  are  to 
examine  into  the  conduct  of  the  Secretary  of  State  and  the 
police  ;  a  mob  jury  says  that  killing  is  no  murder  if  a 
policeman  be  the  sufferer,  and  a  second  jury  acquits  the 
murderer  because  the  King's  Solicitor  General  adduces 
feeble  evidence  and  says  nothing  for  the  prosecution, 
because  (said  he)  a  bill  was  pending  in  Parliament  to  enable 
the  prisoner  to  employ  counsel  to  plead  his  cause,  and  in 
the  interval,  till  this  charming  idea  shall  become  law,  it 
would  be  illiberal  to  speak  against  a  prisoner  (if  a  mob 
delinquent).  So  the  King  is  supposed  to  command  the 
army.  No,  said  the  experience  of  last  session,  when  we 
had  half  a  dozen  courts  martial  of  various  dates  called  in 
question,  and  some  of  the  sentences  remitted,  to  escape 
further  discussion.  Moreover  we  had  a  Commission  on 
Military  Governments  headed  by  that  loud-voiced  thick- 
headed, but  eminent  Whig  Lord  Ebrington,  but  we  may 
thank  God  for  these  disgusts  are  forced  on  army  officers, 
who  will  not  forget  this  in  the  day  of  need. 

'  Worst  of  all  is  the  contemptible  state  of  the  party 
(if  it  exist)  of  the  D.  of  W.  and  Sir  Robert  Peel,  who  have 
never  recovered  from  the  suicidal  stab  of  the  Catholic 
concession,  whereby  they  became  unworthy  of  trust, 
indeed  their  perpetual  concessions  to  the  popular  opinion 
by  abolition  of  offices,  diminution  of  salaries,  and  other 
varieties  of  folly,  became  more  dangerous  than  a  Whig 
administration,  who  may  perhaps  produce  a  state  of  affairs 
so  palpably  tending  to  ruin  as  to  unite  all  the  holders  of 
property  against  the  already  united  vulgar  who  have  no 
property.  I  am  not  sorry  that  in  France  and  her  cousin 
Belgium  the  mechanics  are  producing  combinations,  we 
shall  see  the  result.  It  is  uncertain  whether  from  dulness 
or  evil  design  Joseph  Hume  abolished  all  laws  against 
combination,  because  the  masters  were  not  prevented  from 
combining,  all  which  was  fair  enough,  provided  breach  of  the 
peace  and  violation  of  liberty  in  the  well-disposed  workman 
had  been  effectually  suppressed,  which  being  impossible 
till  we  have  military  law  and  cadi  justice,  combination  must 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    305 

be  rampant,  to  the  injury  of  the  employer  and  employed 
equally.' 

A  committee  of  the  House  was  appointed  in  1833  to 
consider  the  establishment  of  the  House  of  Commons — 
one  of  the  many  committees  of  inquiry  into  public 
expenditure  for  which  the  ardour  of  Joseph  Hume  was 
responsible.  A  very  large  body  of  evidence  was  given  by 
the  officials  of  the  House  of  Commons  which  revealed  a 
good  many  abuses.1  Rickman,  in  common  with  the  other 
officials,  made  a  return  of  all  his  emoluments,  and  was 
also  examined  upon  the  question  of  the  Speaker's  Secretary's 
salary.  It  is  a  proof  of  his  disgust  with  affairs  generally 
that  no  letter  of  his  contains  an  allusion  to  this  committee, 
for  he  must  naturally  have  resented  its  appointment. 
Some  of  the  old  clerks,  in  fact,  took  up  in  their  evidence 
Rickman's  own  point  of  view  that  payment  by  fees  ensured 
better  and  quicker  work  than  a  fixed  salary. 

Several  of  Rickman's  letters  in  this  year  were  short 
treatises  on  the  corn  duties  for  the  benefit  of  Southey,  who 
was  writing  an  article  on  the  subject  for  the  Quarterly. 
But  he  does  not  mention  a  fact  of  more  general  interest, 
that  in  July  Lamb  dined  with  him  at  the  '  Bell '  to  meet 
Godwin  and  be  reconciled  after  an  estrangement.  There  is 
a  letter  from  Lamb  to  Miss  Rickman,  written  on  May  23, 
in  which  he  says  that  he  is  glad  she  likes  the  Essays  of 
Elia.  It  refers  also  to  the  Rickmans  calling  on  the 
Godwins. 

Southey's  daughter  Edith  was  married  in  this  year  to 
Mr.  Warter,  who  afterwards  edited  the  Selections  from 
Southey's  correspondence.  Mr.  Warter  stayed  with  the 
Rickmans  early  in  1834,  and  he  pays  his  tribute  to  his 
host  in  the  following  words  : — 

'  I  avail  myself  of  a  note  to  express  the  high  respect  I 
entertained  for  this  excellent  man.     In  1834  I  spent  a  fort- 

1  My  article  on  '  The  Officers  of  the  House  of  Commons  '  in  Blackwood's 
Magazine  for  March  1909  contains  a  summary  of  the  state  of  affairs  revealed 
by  this  evidence. 

U 


306    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

night  at  his  house,  and  marvelled  at  his  immense  stores 
of  information,  and  at  his  facility  as  well  as  pleasure  in 
imparting  them  to  a  willing  hearer  like  myself.  I  may 
mention,  likewise,  how,  under  a  somewhat  hard  exterior, 
there  was  the  deepest  sense  of  Christian  charity.  I  had 
a  never-to-be-forgotten  opportunity  of  noticing  this  in  a 
large  party  at  his  house,  on  which  occasion  (admitting  his 
errors)  he  defended  the  name  and  memory  of  Porson,  whom 
he  knew,  from  needless  censure.'  x 

Rickman's  attitude  to  post-Reform  politics  is  well 
illustrated  in  a  passage  from  a  letter  of  12  February  1834  : — 

'  .  .  .  I  am  fortunately  arrived  at  a  callous  state,  and 
feel  nothing  of  annoyance  because  nothing  of  interest  in 
what  is  going  on  around  me  :  and  as  to  result,  always  relying 
on  Shakespeare's  text — '  Fair  is  foul  and  foul  is  fair  ' — 
I  care  not  at  what  rate  they  travel  towards  an  issue, 
because  I  do  not  clearly  see  what  pace  is  most  likely  to 
lead  to  a  good  issue.' 

The  first  political  event  of  more  than  party  importance  in 
this  year  was  the  publication  of  the  Poor  Law  report, 
which  led  to  the  Poor  Law  Amendment  act.  Rickman's 
interest  in  the  question,  as  I  have  shown,  was  constant 
throughout  his  life,  and  the  following  passage  from  a  letter 
written  three  years  before  this  date  shows  how  deeply  he 
had  considered  poor  law  reform  : — 

'  24  April  1831. 

' .  .  .  I  hesitate  about  the  best  movement  towards  the 
amendment  of  the  Poor  Laws  ;  there  is  likelihood  I  think 
that  Sir  Robert  Peel  would  gladly  try  to  effect  this  during 
his  absence  from  office,  which  would  give  him  a  great 
reputation,  but  which  would  cost  too  much  attention  when 
in  office.  I  could  fit  up  the  apparatus  readily,  having 
not  only  arguments  but  clauses  ready  drawn  in  store.  I 
would  propose  that  he  should  make  a  circumstantial  speech 
and  print  the  bill  in  the  summer  session,  and  I  could  hear 
1  Selections  from  the  Correspondence  of  R,  S.,  ii.  125,  note. 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    307 

and  dispose  of  all  observations  (they  would  not  be  few) 
in  the  autumn.  .  .  .' 

Nevertheless,  when  the  report  was  issued  his  comment 
upon  it  to  Southey  was  rather  grudging.  In  common  with 
many  other  people  he  seems  to  have  regarded  the  recom- 
mendation to  appoint  commissioners  with  great  dis- 
favour, as  giving  an  opening  for  political  jobbery — a  view 
somewhat  inconsistent  with  his  defence  of  sinecure  offices  as 
a  support  for  Government  in  Parliament. 

The  Government  in  1834  was  torn  by  internal  dissensions 
over  their  Irish  policy.  On  July  9  Grey  resigned,  and  for 
a  short  time  Melbourne,  assisted  by  Althorp,  carried  on  the 
Administration.  Rickman's  commentary  on  the  outward 
aspect  of  affairs  is  worth  quoting. 

'  2  May  1834. 

'  .  .  .  We  have  no  light  here  as  to  the  end  of  the  session. 
The  ministry  cannot  carry  their  imperfect  bills  unless  in  a 
huddle,  as  last  session  in  the  month  of  August,  so  that  I 
anticipate  not  early  liberation. 

'  A  rumour  is  afloat  that  Lord  Grey  from  age  and  an 
increasing  rupture  will  no  longer  keep  office,  and  who  to 
substitute  they  know  not.  Lord  Brougham  would  have  no 
objection  and  the  indecorum  could  not  be  greater  than 
making  such  a Keeper  of  the  K.'s  conscience. 

'  I  value  the  D.  of  W.'s  opinion  not  at  all.  As  bad  a 
statesman  as  he  is  a  good  general,  and  curiously  sub- 
stituting one  character  for  the  other  in  the  stratagem  of 
surprise  whereby  he  carried  the  R.  Cath.  question,  the 
grossest  of  all  specimens  of  impropriety  in  civil  government. 
His  insult  to  all  Scotland  in  the  promotion  of  Abercromby  1 
was  not  so  bad.  But  the  worst  of  proceedings  from  want  of 
foresight  or  pure  ignorance  of  the  working  of  the  English 
Government  was  the  abolition  of  about  20  offices  which 
produced  the  regular  squadron  in  support  of  Government 
in  the  Ho.  Commons.     At  present  this  band  of  defence  is 

1  He  was  made  chief  baron  of  the  Exchequer  of  Scotland  in  1830. 


308    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

reduced  to  about  20,  they  are  low  enough  at  50,  and  the 
Government  now  lies  open  to  defeat  from  any  concert  of 
50  Democrats  on  any  question  ;  and  by  multiplying  such 
questions  the  Democrats  and  Radicals  cannot  but  succeed 
in  course  of  time.  So  much  for  the  wisdom  of  the  D.  of  W. 
If  we  can  arrive  at  a  good  military  government,  the  only 
chance  left,  the  said  Duke  will  do  well  enough,  till  then  he 
is  best  on  the  shelf.  .  .  .' 

During  this  year  Mrs.  Southey  had  been  gradually  sinking 
into  hopeless  insanity.  In  June,  writing  to  Rickman, 
Southey  refers  to  '  my  poor  Edith,'  and  at  the  beginning  of 
October  he  left  her  at  a  lunatic  asylum  in  York.  On 
October  7  he  writes  to  Rickman  :  '  We  have  an  account 
from  York  to-day,  not  a  favourable  one,  yet  perhaps  quite 
as  much  so  as  ought  to  have  been  expected.'  It  was  the 
great  tragedy  of  his  closing  years,  which  had  a  very  marked 
effect  upon  bis  spirits  and  his  intellectual  powers.  Rickman 
very  truly  sympathised,  though  he  was  incapable  of  ex- 
pressing his  feelings.  Yet  when  he  found  that  Telford 
had  left  Southey  a  legacy  of  £500,  he  offered  to  advance  at 
once  any  sum  up  to  £450  '  if  from  recent  event  (or  otherwise) 
desirable.' 

On  October  16  occurred  the  disastrous  fire  in  which  the 
greater  part  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament  were  burnt  down. 
As  is  well  known,  it  was  caused  by  the  too  rapid  burning  of 
old  Exchequer  tallies  of  wood  in  a  stove.  It  began  in  the 
House  of  Lords  and  rapidly  spread.  The  Rickmans  were 
in  Palace  Yard  at  the  time,  except  Ann  Rickman,  who  was 
in  the  country  with  her  uncle.  It  is  to  this  fact  that  we  owe 
the  graphic  account  written  on  the  very  night  by  Frances 
Rickman,  afterwards  Mrs.  Hone,  to  her  sister.  By  Miss 
Lefroy's  courtesy,  I  am  enabled  to  reproduce  it. 

1  Palace  Yard,  17th  Oct. 
'  J  fast  3  a.m. 

'  Thank  God,  my  dearest  Anne,  after  near  eight  hours 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    309 

dreadful  doubt,  we  seem  all  safe,  though  I  am  still  partly 
lighted  by  the  still  blazing  House  of  Commons  !  I  fear  you 
will  hear  of  the  awful  fire  before  this  reaches  you.  ...  I 
will  give  you  as  collected  an  account  as  I  can,  for  my  legs 
ache  and  I  could  not  sleep,  so  I  may  as  well  write.  After 
dinner,  at  §  past  six  this  evening,  Papa  and  Mamma  taking 
a  nap,  in  came  Ellis,  "  I  think,  Miss,  there  's  a  small  fire 
broke  out  at  the  House  of  Lords."  I  said  "  Come  with 
me  to  the  leads  to  see  it,"  and  there,  even  then,  a  volume 
of  flame  was  blowing  towards  the  Wildes'.  Papa  at  first 
thought  it  could  be  got  under,  but  soon  it  fearfully  grew, 
and  we  had  little  doubt  the  Hall  would  catch.  The  House 
of  Lords  we  could  not  see,  but  some  heard  that  it  and  Mr. 
Ley's  and  the  Library  were  destroyed  :  then  the  flames 
burst  from  the  House  of  Commons  windows,  and  sooner  than 
I  could  believe  the  interior  of  that  was  destroyed.  Now 
see  my  view,  the  west  window  in  bow  room  my  prospect, 
front  state  rooms  of  Speaker's  remain  entire  (outwardly), 
red  smoke  rises  from  the  quadrangle,  and  the  open  House 
of  Commons  arches  (ruined  like  Fountains  Abbey)  are 
filled  with  an  orange  light,  nearly  the  whole  of  the  south 
end  of  the  Speaker's  is  destroyed.  .  .  .  But  for  the  woeful 
effects  on  us  !  I  first  ran  to  the  Wildes'  who  with  Mr. 
Gurtkin  were  in  agony  that,  as  first  appeared  probable, 
they  would  be  burnt ;  even  then  blazing  papers  were  float- 
ing over  and  in  their  garden.  I  brought  some  valuables  to 
our  house.  But  soon  the  tide  turned  and  we  were  in  danger, 
so  Papa  thought  we  should  put  things  together.  .  .  .  Poor 
Mamma  was  much  overcome  at  first,  but  that  made  me 
stronger,  as  I  felt  I  must  look  to  everything,  Papa  being 
then  rather  provokingly  easy.  By  this  time  we  had  many 
helps  and  constant  knocking  at  the  door.  .  .  .  Presently 
in  came  poor  Mr.  Manning  who  had  spent  the  day  out  .  .  . 
he  saw  it  in  Oxford  Street  and  rushed  down.  Ellis,  Mr. 
Pritt,  Apps,  James  the  Dean  of  Ripon's  servant  sent  to 
help.  Mrs.  Doctor  Holland's  ooachman  and  footman  here, 
when  came  a  knock,  and  Henry  Taylor  answered  my 
"your  name,  if  you  please,"  before  I  let  him  in.     He  had 


310    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

a  tall,  elegant  friend  with  him,  Mr.  Edward  Vilhers,1  and 
they  insisted  on  being  active  chief  managers  under  me, 
and  worked  furiously,  H.  T.  getting  coaches,  taking  their 
number,  fining  them,  and  sending  a  servant  on  the  box  of 
each  to  unload  .  .  .  for  the  books  were  tied  in  sheets, 
drawers  emptied,  everything  dismantled.  Here  (bow  room) 
only  a  few  chairs,  sofas  and  the  table  remain.  .  .  .  Fancy 
the  whole  house  dismantled,  H.  T.  and  his  friend  working 
away,  I  shall  never  cease  to  respect  his  judicious  manage- 
ment and  energy.  .  .  .  Captain  Colquhoun  was  directing  on 
the  Speaker's  House.  They  knocked  in  the  roof.  The  furni- 
ture all  thrown  out  of  the  windows,  even  china,  mirrors.  .  .  . 
The  police  order  was  beautiful.  The  Horse  Guards  down, 
and  H.  T.  as  he  came  met  Lord  Munster,  and  consider- 

1  This  is  curiously  corroborated  by  a  letter  published  for  the  first  time 
this  year  in  Mrs.  C.  W.  Earle's  Memoirs  and  Memories.  Mr.  Edward 
Villiers  was  her  father,  and  on  October  17,  1834,  he  wrote  as  follows  to 
his  mother  :  — 

'  Of  course  the  fire  is  the  engrossing  topic ;  the  accounts  in  all  the  news- 
papers are  so  very  full  and  correct  that  there  is  no  use  in  repeating  them. 
I  saw  it  all,  at  least  from  the  commencement  till  one  o'clock,  and  part  of 
the  time  was  very  actively  engaged.  I  left  the  Athenaeum  where  I  had 
been  dining  with  Taylor  and  Rickman,  the  Clerk  of  the  House  of 
Commons,  a  great  friend  of  his.  We  went  to  see  if  he  wanted  assistance, 
as  his  house  stands  on  one  side  of  Westminster  Hall,  in  immediate  danger- 
I  assisted  in  gutting  his  house,  and  such  a  scene  of  confusion  never  was 
seen.  I  got  also  a  most  splendid  view  of  the  fire  which  was  burning  all 
around  the  house.  Had  I  not  seen  half  Constantinople  burnt  down  I 
would  say  it  was  the  finest  sight  I  had  ever  seen,  and  here  also  there  were 
peculiar  beauties  which  the  other  could  not  have,  such  as  the  lighting  up 
of  the  Abbey,  a  more  beautiful  sight  than  that  never  was  beheld.  All 
the  attempts  to  arrest  the  fire  were  for  hours  unsuccessful ;  they  deserved 
to  be,  for  they  were  really  contemptible  considering  the  age  in  which  we 
live,  nothing  ready,  nothing  effective  when  it  was  ready,  and  no  manage- 
ment whatever.  Nothing  of  great  value  is  lost,  and  nothing  which 
cannot  be  replaced — so  as  the  glorious  old  Hall  is  saved  (and  it  really 
was  almost  a  miracle  that  it  was),  I  don't  so  much  mind,  and  nothing  is 
known  as  to  its  origin,  but  the  evidence  which  they  have  had  at  the 
Home  Office  is  all  in  favour  of  accident,  some  stoppage  in  the  flues.  It 
certainly,  however,  burst  forth  in  three  places  at  once.  The  people  gave 
three  cheers  when  the  roof  of  the  House  of  Lords  fell  in.  The  King  has, 
I  believe,  offered  Buckingham  Palace.  This  is  a  true  and  particular 
account  of  all  I  know  on  the  matter.  It  is  still  burning  but  quite  sub- 
dued, and  they  are  emptying  the  Thames  upon  it.  .  .  .' 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN     311 

ately  asked  for  a  dozen  soldiers  to  stand  at  our  door. 
What  a  subject  for  his  next  poem  !  I  am  truly  thankful 
that  I  was  able  to  use  more  energy  than  I  can  now  believe 
possible.  Truly  strength  is  given  in  the  day  of  trial.  Poor 
Hannah  was  white  as  a  sheet  and  Jane  very  frightened. 
Dear  Mamma  soon  became  cool  and  packed  in  the  trunks  as 
if  going  on  a  journey.  Mr.  Manning  established  himself 
in  two  chairs  in  the  long  passage.  Papa  and  Mr.  Payne 
took  me  out  to  the  corner  of  Palace  Yard  to  see  the  Abbey, 
such  a  grand  sight  as  I  pray  I  may  never  see  again  ;  the 
bright  moon  in  dark  clouds,  and  the  clear  red  and  blue  and 
yellow  light.  Oh  !  no  one  who  did  not  see  it  can  picture 
it.  .  .  .  You  will  be  astonished  that  H.  Taylor  should  be  the 
hero.  I  should  think  the  Speaker  will  be  up  soon.  I  hope 
the  Gobelin  tapestry  is  saved.  Fancy  the  Spanish  Armada 
and  all  etc.  destroyed !  .  .  .  The  Whigs  and  Reform 
Parliament  will  indeed  be  remembered.  We  need  not  look 
for  a  new  lease  in  this  neighbourhood.  .  .  . 

'  Half  past  six.  Daylight,  and  after  a  hard  fight  to  save 
the  Hall,  the  fire  is  all  out.  .  .  .' 

At  the  prorogation  of  Parliament,  which  occurred  soon 
after,  Rickman  acted  as  Clerk,  Mr.  Ley,  the  Clerk,  and  his 
son,  the  second  Clerk  Assistant,  having  lost  their  wigs 
in  the  fire.  Rickman  announced  the  news  to  Southey  with 
great  composure. 

'  22  October  1834. 

'  We  are  all  well,  and  the  good  of  destroying  a  mass  of 
useless  incumbrances  is  equivalent  to  the  repairable  evil 
of  £1000  £1500  in  buying  books  for  the  upper  rooms  of  the 
library,  the  contents  of  the  lower  room  little  injured.  The 
Ho.  Commons  (I  beg  pardon  of  the  improved  St.  Stephen's 
Chapel)  makes  an  excellent  ruin,  the  crypt  and  beautiful 
cloister  adjoining  prove  the  efficacy  of  arched  roofs,  as 
they  are  imagined,  even  to  the  colouring  of  the  keystones 
and  bosses,  so  you  must  not  blame  me  for  vilifying  the 
wooden  substitute  (a  kind  of  architectural  fraud)  at  York, 


312    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

which    caught    fire    in    1829,    and   has    cost    £100,000   in 
reparation. 

'  Miss  F.  R.  who  did  not  quail  in  the  least — will  I  think 
send  you  a  sketch — which  will  show  how  wonderfully  the 
hall  escaped.  The  populace  are  greatly  interested  for  that 
in  particular,  and  exulted  loudly  when  the  engines  seemed 
to  prevail.  All  our  books  and  other  valuables  were  moved, 
and  all  are  safely  at  home  again,  the  police  and  military 
maintaining  order  without  difficulty,  no  outrage  attempted. 
Mr.  Taylor  visited  us  early  in  the  fire,  and  distinguished 
himself  as  commander  in  chief  of  our  auxiliaries  till  all 
was  over,  at  half  past  two  o'clock.  He  will  dine  with  us 
to-morrow  with  other  fire  workers — to  glory  in  past  labours 
and  past  peril.' 

Rickman's  last  letter  of  the  year  refers  to  the  change  of 
Ministry.  On  Al thorp's  going  to  the  House  of  Lords, 
Melbourne  found  it  impossible  to  carry  on.  The  King  again 
had  recourse  to  Wellington,  who  never  disobeyed  a  royal 
command.  Peel  joined  him,  and  before  going  to  country 
early  in  1835,  he  issued  his  famous  '  Tarn  worth  Manifesto  ' 
containing  the  Conservative  policy. 

'  26  Nov.  1834. 

'  ...  So  far  as  political  change  has  gone,  I  look  at  it 
with  little  interest  ;  the  eagerness  of  the  D.  of  W.  for 
office  indicates  surely  enough  that  he  will  do  anything  to 
keep  it — and  in  any  manner.  So  much  of  consistency  one 
cannot  help  ascribing  to  him  after  his  oblique  military 
movement  in  carrying  the  R.C.  question,  whence  and  from 
his  official  retrenchments,  which  abolished  half  the  influence 
of  the  Crown,  followed  of  necessity  Reform  of  Parlt. 
which,  good  man  !  he  then  opposed.  Was  he  sincere  in  his 
blindness  ?  Posterity  will  have  to  decide.  And  whether 
Sir  R.  P.  was  duped  or  a  confederate  ?  The  horns  of  this 
dilemma  are  awkward  against  him.  .  .  .' 

The  year  1834  saw  the  death  of  two  old  friends.  Coleridge 
died  on  July  25.     Southey's  coldness  on  this  event  is  well- 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    313 

known — a  lapse  in  an  otherwise  generous  character.  Rick- 
man's  attitude  was  very  similar.  On  December  27  Lamb 
followed  Coleridge  to  the  grave.  Five  days  before,  he  had 
stumbled  over  a  stone,  and  the  effects  of  the  fall  were  fatal. 
Talfourd  tells  how  Mr.  Ryle,  who  was  co-executor  with  him 
of  Lamb's  will,  called  to  tell  him  of  Lamb's  danger.  It  is 
therefore  interesting  to  read  Rickman's  letter  to  Southey 
upon  his  death.  The  authority  which  Rickman  had  for 
ascribing  the  remoter  cause  of  Lamb's  death  to  intoxication 
is,  of  course,  vague.  It  will  be  charitable  to  suppose  that 
his  severity  towards  certain  human  weaknesses  had  perhaps 
distorted  his  version  of  what  he  had  heard.  It  is  certainly 
melancholy  to  compare  his  cold  words  with  Lamb's  warm 
letter  upon  their  first  acquaintance,  more  than  thirty  years 
back.     Southey  had  already  written  on  January  3,  1835  : — 

'  .  .  .  Poor  Lamb  !  It  is  better  that  he  should  have 
gone  first  than  that  he  should  have  survived  his  poor  sister. 
She,  when  she  is  in  a  condition  to  understand  her  loss, 
will  be  better  able  to  bear  it  wisely  than  he  would  have  been, 
because  she  will  more  naturally  (as  it  were)  fly  to  the  only 
source  of  consolation.  When  the  time  comes  for  their  sad 
story  to  be  told,  I  know  no  author  whose  writings  will  be 
perused  with  a  more  mournful  interest.  .  .  .' 

Here  is  Rickman's  answer. 

•'  24  January  1835. 

'  .  .  .  Lamb  died  just  before  I  left  town  and  Mr.  Ryle 
of  the  E.  India  House,  one  of  his  extors.,  whom  I  know, 
notified  it  to  me,  and  promised  to  call,  but  he  has  not  yet 
done  so,  and  I  believe  his  letter  gave  too  favourable  a  state- 
ment of  circumstances.  He  said  Miss  L.  was  resigned  and 
composed  at  the  event,  but  it  was  from  her  malady,  then  in 
mild  type,  so  that  when  she  saw  her  brother  dead,  she 
observed  on  his  beauty  when  asleep  and  apprehended 
nothing  further.  In  like  manner,  it  was  said  by  Mr.  Ryle, 
that  C.  L.  died  of  erysipelas,  but  induced  (if  induced  at  all) 
I  now  find  by  some  unhappy  violence  he  sustained  in  a 


314    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

state  of  reckless  intemperance.  I  always  thought  such 
must  be  his  end,  and  am  surprised  how  it  was  delayed  so 
long.  The  better  side  of  the  picture  is,  that  he  has  left 
about  £1200,  with  which  and  otherwise,  Miss  L.  will  be  well 
sustained.  I  do  not  know  further  particulars,  which  you 
will  learn  (no  doubt)  here. 

'  The  new  Tory  Government  are  determined  to  stand,  as 
I  believe  at  whatever  expense  of  concession  to  their  enemies, 
and  to  outbid  the  Whigs  in  reform  of  Church  and  State. 
The  Whigs  on  their  part,  especially  the  Dissenter  Whigs  or 
State  puritans,  seemed  to  join  the  Radicals  during  the 
elections,  because  otherwise  they  had  no  chance  of  a  strong 
party  in  Parliament.  How  these  worthies  will  act,  we 
cannot  foresee.  Each  will  jesuitize  for  himself  I  suppose, 
and  these  will  a  beautiful  medley.  Farewell.  With  good 
wishes  to  your  circle.' 

The  end  of  Rickman's  letter  refers  to  the  result  of  the 
general  election  which  was  held  in  January.  The  Con- 
servatives numbered  about  270  in  the  new  House,  but  a 
coalition  of  the  Whigs  and  Irish  outnumbered  them,  the 
first  proof  of  which  was  the  election  of  Abercromby  as 
Speaker  against  the  Ministerial  candidate,  Manners- 
Sutton.  In  April  Peel  saw  no  course  open  to  him  but 
resignation.  He  was  succeeded  by  Melbourne  and  the 
Whigs,  whose  government  remained  in  office  till  after  the 
accession  of  Queen  Victoria.  Rickman's  last  letter  upon 
politics  was  written  in  this  year. 

■  July  31,  1835. 

1  We  at  the  Ho.  Commons  are  mispending  our  time  sadly, 
— but  the  Rads.  and  the  Whiggery  are  so  nearly  matched  in 
the  Ho.  Commons,  and  have  so  lost  their  influence  with  the 
Vox  populi  that  the  Ho.  Lords  resumes  its  efficacy,  and  no 
great  harm  can  be  attempted,  and  less  effected. 

'  The  regular  Squad  of  Rads.  had  a  steady  muster  last 
evening,  and  beat  the  Ministry  and  such  of  the  Tories  as 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    315 

were  present.1  So  contemptible  is  become  Government 
influence  over  their  own  official  men,  that  they  could  not 
muster  half  a  dozen  M.P.'s,  and  this  against  a  motion, 
which  if  pursued  to  the  extent  the  Rads.  expect,  annihilates 
the  authority  of  the  Crown  over  the  army,  inasmuch  as  a 
Commn.  of  Rads.  would  reverse  the  sentence  of  a  court 
martial  after  royal  approval.' 

Early  in  the  year  Peel  had  written  to  Southey  offering 
him  a  baronetcy,  and  asking  whether  there  was  anything 
else  which  he  could  do  in  recognition  of  his  literary 
achievements.  Southey  sent  a  long  and  dignified  answer, 
in  which  he  refused  the  baronetcy,  on  the  grounds  of  having 
no  property  with  which  to  support  such  an  honour.  But 
he  pointed  out  at  the  same  time  that  his  labours  had  been 
the  sole  means  of  supporting  the  family  to  whom  he  was 
so  devoted  ;  and  that,  since  old  age  was  now  upon  him, 
he  would  be  grateful  for  anything  that  could  make  their 
worldly  position  more  secure.  Peel's  answer  was  to  increase 
his  pension  soon  afterwards  to  £300  a  year.  There  is  a 
characteristic  passage  in  a  letter  from  Rickman  referring 
to  the  proffered  baronetcy,  an  honour  for  which  he  had  a 
great  contempt. 

'  7  February  1835. 

'  I  have  received  your  letter  and  am  glad  to  learn  that 
I  may  direct  to  you  as  usual.  I  somewhat  dreaded  the 
Tuesday  Gazette,  lest  you  might  there  have  fallen  under 
the  description  of  the  some  men  "  who  have  honours  cast 
upon  them."  You  will  see  by  this  that  H.  T.  [Taylor] 
had  called  here,  (Sunday  evening  in  fact)  and  told  what  was 
threatened.  I  pleaded  against  your  baronetcy,  the  fitness 
of  landed  property,  almost  of  entailed  property,  and  the 
enormous  unfitness  of  making  honours  cheap  by  a  com- 
pulsory instance.  About  the  more  sensible  part  of  the 
double  intention  in  your  favour  I  said  what  occurred  to  me, 

1  On  a  motion  to  appoint  a  select  committee  to  inquire  into  the  conduct 
of  General  Darling  while  Governor  of  New  South  Wales.  The  House  sat 
till  after  twelve  o'clock  on  the  31st,  and  the  Government  were  beaten  by 
66  to  47. 


316    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

and  as  H.  T.  was  to  dine  with  the  magnates  on  Tuesday,  he 
begged  me  to  write  (if  time  permitted)  to  him  on  Monday. 
So  I  did,  and  I  think  urged  successfully  the  impolicy  of 
grades  of  pension,  an  eternal  source  it  would  be  of  malice 
and  spite  and  dissension  where  there  should  be  none,  and 
the  whole  affair  would  be  disgraced  by  personal  polemics 
before  the  public' 

In  September  of  this  year  Rickman  was  finally  removed 
from  his  old  house  in  Palace  Yard.  It  was  curious  that 
though  the  old  Exchequer  had  been  threatened  several 
years  before,  it  had,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  outlived  the  wholly 
unexpected  destruction  of  the  Houses  of  Parliament  by 
fire.  As  early  as  1825  Southey  had  written  :  '  My  dearest 
associations  with  London  will  be  destroyed  when  your  house 
and  the  Exchequer  shall  be  pulled  down.'  Again  on  May 
29,  1830  Southey  wrote  :— 

'  .  .  .  I  almost  think  if  your  house  in  P.  Yard  and  the 
old  Exchequer  were  pulled  down,  I  should  hardly  ever  have 
heart  to  visit  London  again,  so  many,  many  years  have  I 
had  a  home  in  that  corner,  or  made  my  first  visit  to  it  on 
my  arrival  in  town.  From  1788  to  1792  I  frequented  it 
as  a  schoolboy,  and  have  frequented  it  ever  since.  And 
never  have  I  spent  more  pleasant  or  more  profitable  hours 
than  in  your  society  and  as  your  guest.  The  luckiest 
chance  of  my  life  (for  mere  chance  it  apparently  was)  was 
that  which  took  me  to  Christchurch.' 

However,  the  demolition  scheme  came  to  nothing,  and 
on  February  5,  1832  Rickman  wrote  : — 

'  The  old  Excheqr.  has  a  kind  of  reprieve  in  the  dismissal 
of  Sir  Henry  Parnell,1  who  aimed  at  establishing  himself 
and  his  coadjutor,  or  rather  bear-leader,  Dr.  Bowring  .  .  .  in 
office  for  life,  suspending  the  old  fashioned  Excheqr.' 

1  Afterwards  Lord  Congleton.  He  was  secretary  at  war  in  1831,  and 
was  dismissed  in  January  1832  for  refusing  to  support  the  ministry  in  the 
Russian-Dutch  war  question. 


Judge  Jeffreys'  House  in  Duke  Street,  Westminster. 

(From  a  water-colour  by  T.  II.  Shepherd  in  /SjJ.) 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    317 

Now,  however,  the  rebuilding  of  the  Palace  of  Westminster 
made  demolition  inevitable,  and  Rickman  found  his  last 
resting-place  in  that  house  in  Duke  Street,  Westminster, 
which  was  built  by  Judge  Jeffreys,  and  had  once  been 
used  as  the  Admiralty.  This  house,  which  stood  till  the 
beginning  of  last  year  in  Delahay  Street,  has  now  itself  been 
pulled  down  to  make  room  for  new  Government  offices. 
Rickman  writes  of  it  as  follows  : — 

'  23  Duke  Street,  Westmr., 
'  17  Sept.  1835. 

'  Your  letter  finds  me  rather  unsettled,  in  a  new  abode, 
as  we  were  desired  to  quit  Palace  Yard  at  the  end  of  August 
to  make  room  for  the  demolition  of  the  old  Excheqr.,  and 
consequently  of  your  ancient  haunt.  On  the  pressure  of 
the  occasion  I  found  a  house  in  most  desolate  murky  con- 
dition, as  a  receptacle  for  furniture  rather  than  inhabitants, 
but  window-cleaning,  whitewashing,  etc.  have  so  improved 
appearances  that  we  are  likely  to  settle  here.  It  constitutes 
a  fourth  part  of  a  mansion  temp.  Car.  n.,  built  I  believe  by 
Jeffries,  who  became  known  and  was  rewarded  for  his 
cruelty  by  the  Chancellorship.  But  the  mob  caught  him, 
I  believe,  at  the  Revolution.  We  possess  his  central 
staircase  and  the  adjoining  rooms,  which  are  sufficiently 
ample.  Everybody  has  worked  with  zeal,  and  with  good 
help  ;  yet  a  month's  work  will  be  required  (three  weeks 
of  it  already  passed)  to  arrive  at  convenience.  .  .  .' 

Southey  replied  : — 

'Sept.  20,  1835. 

'  So  you  are  unhoused  at  last,  and  when  I  next  come  to 
London  my  old  haunts  of  six  and  forty  years  will  have  dis- 
appeared from  the  face  of  the  earth.  Well,  they  may 
easily  make  a  handsomer  building  on  the  Exchequer,  but 
pleasanter  society  than  I  have  enjoyed  by  your  presence 
in  that  corner  will  never  be  collected  upon  the  same 
ground — or  elsewhere. 

'  I  hope  your  emancipation  is  at  hand  :   for  otherwise  in 


318    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

bad  weather  and  cold  nights  you  will  feel  the  inconvenience 
of  the  distance  from  W.  Hall.  .  .  .' 

Early  in  1836  the  two  friends  had  some  idea  of  working 
up  the  material  of  their  Colloquies.  Southey  wrote  on 
January  31  :  '  .  .  .  Two  months  hence  I  hope  to  feel  so 
much  at  leisure  as  to  work  up  Colloquial  materials.  John 
Murray  is  now  so  utterly  regardless  of  all  business  or  forms 
of  business,  that  there  could  not  be  a  fitter  person  to  bring 
into  the  present  cabinet.' 

But  nothing  came  of  the  scheme.  Between  April  1836 
and  August  1838  no  letters  from  Rickman  to  Southey  have 
been  preserved.  In  May  1836  Mrs.  Rickman  died,  and  in 
the  same  year  Frances  Rickman  became  Mrs.  Hone.  In 
Southey's  letters  during  the  autumn,  which  are  very  short, 
there  are  allusions  to  an  operation  upon  Rickman's  eyes. 
Nevertheless,  we  know  that  between  1835  and  1837  Rick- 
man contributed  several  articles  to  the  Medical  Gazette. 
In  October  1837  Southey  wrote  sadly  :  '  Our  long  tragedy 
is  now  fast  drawing  to  a  close  ' ;  and  Mrs.  Southey  died  in 
November.  From  then  till  his  death  Southey  gradually 
sunk  into  a  state  of  childishness,  though  at  first  it  was 
only  shown  in  a  certain  incapacity  for  concentration.  In 
1838  he  reviewed  the  Life  of  Telford,  edited  by  Rickman, 
in  the  Quarterly,  and  in  December  again  spoke  of  resuming 
the  Colloquies. 

In  1839  Southey  married  Caroline  Bowles,  but  there  is  no 
allusion  to  her  in  his  short  notes  to  Rickman,  of  whom  we 
know  nothing  but  that  he  produced  in  that  year  a  large 
Return  of  Local  Taxation  based  upon  all  his  former  returns. 
In  1840  he  began  to  be  busy  with  the  Population  Bill  for 
1841  which  was  brought  in  on  June  1.  On  June  2  Rickman 
fell  ill.  Exposure  to  the  night  air  after  long  sittings  in  the 
House,  now  necessitated  by  his  no  longer  living  in  the 
precincts,  caused  an  ulcerated  larynx.  It  was  with  diffi- 
culty that  he  was  persuaded  to  remain  away  from  his  work, 
but  even  on  his  sick-bed  he  was  able  to  write  a  long  letter 
of  thirty-six  paragraphs  to  the  Home  Office  to  defend  him- 


H  o 


£S 


LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN    319 

self,  in  the  words  of  his  son's  memoir,  against  '  a  series  of 
anonymous  strictures  '  upon  the  methods  of  compiling  the 
Population  Returns.  '  The  commentary  proved  to  be 
conclusive  '  :  but  the  hardy  census-taker  was  not  to  see  a 
fifth  census.  Rickman's  illness  was  fatal  :  '  a  sad  painful 
struggle  for  breath  it  was,'  says  Mrs.  Lefroy.  For  two 
months  he  lingered,  and  died  on  August  11,  1840,  '  in  great 
composure  of  mind  and  body.'  He  was  buried  beside  his 
wife  in  St.  Margaret's,  Westminster. 

So  died  John  Rickman  in  his  sixty-ninth  year.  I  cannot 
conclude  this  memoir  more  fittingly  than  by  noticing  the 
proceedings  of  the  House  of  Commons  on  February  2  and  3, 
1841.  On  February  2  the  Speaker  called  the  notice  of  the 
House  to  Rickman's  death,  and  to  a  letter  from  his  son 
relating  to  a  series  of  papers  on  procedure  collected  by 
Rickman,  which  he  desired  to  place  at  the  disposal  of  the 
House.  Lord  John  Russell  thereupon  gave  notice  that  he 
would  move  a  resolution  on  the  subject  next  day.  On 
February  3  the  resolution  was  proposed  by  Lord  John 
Russell  and  seconded  by  Mr.  Goulburn,  both  of  whom 
spoke  of  Rickman's  services  in  the  highest  terms,  referring 
especially  to  the  fund  of  information  which  he  was  always 
ready  to  impart  to  those  who  desired  it.  Rickman's  friend, 
Sir  Robert  Inglis,  also  pronounced  a  eulogy,  but  perhaps 
the  most  remarkable  tribute  was  from  the  Radical,  Joseph 
Hume,  with  whose  views  Rickman  was  in  violent  disagree- 
ment, as  will  have  been  gathered.  He  said  :  '  I  am  unwilling 
to  allow  this  vote  to  pass  without  expressing  my  humble 
approbation  of  the  conduct  of  the  late  Mr.  Rickman.  I 
have  never  known  a  public  officer  so  modest,  so  unassuming, 
possessed  of  such  varied  knowledge  respecting  the  affairs 
of  Parliament,  and  yet  so  ready  to  afford  every  information 
to  others.  The  labours  of  Mr.  Rickman  generally  in 
statistical  matters,  to  which  I  have  paid  particular  attention, 
have  been  highly  valuable  ;  and,  specially  as  regards  the 
preface  to  the  Population  Returns,  will  stand  unrivalled 
in  the  amount  of  information  and  in  the  concise  manner  in 
which  he  brought  it  before  this  House.     I  therefore  most 


320    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 

cordially  concur  in  expressing  my  sense  of  the  value  of  his 
services.  I  may  add  that  I  had  frequently  occasion  to 
consult  him  on  matters  connected  with  the  rules  of  this 
House,  and  on  documents  before  it,  and  I  always  found  him 
most  friendly  and  ready  to  afford  every  information  in  his 
power.  I  am  bound  to  say  that  I  received  most  valuable 
assistance  from  Mr.  Rickman  in  my  various  duties  in  this 
House.  .  .  .' 
The  resolution,  passed  nem.  con.,  ran  as  follows  : — 

'  That  this  House  entertains  a  just  and  high  sense  of  the 
distinguished  and  exemplary  manner  in  which  John 
Rickman,  Esquire,  late  Clerk  Assistant  of  this  House, 
uniformly  discharged  the  Duties  of  his  situation  during  his 
long  attendance  at  the  Table  of  this  House.' 

The  portrait  which  forms  the  frontispiece  of  this  volume 
was  subsequently  published,  and  underneath  was  written 
a  verdict  which  Rickman  himself  would  have  considered 
the  highest  praise — 

An  Honest  Man. 


INDEX 


Abbot,  Charles.     See  Colchester. 

Abercromby,  James  (Lord  Dunferm- 
line), 307,  314. 

Absenteeism,  Hickman  on,  241, 
301. 

Addington,  Henry  (Lord  Sidmouth), 
44,  46,  79,  105,  109,  141. 

Aikin,  Dr.,  49. 

All  the  Talents,  Ministry  of,  12, 
136-44. 

Althorp,  Lord,  263,  272,  279,  282, 
293,  295,  307,  312. 

Arbuthnot,  Charles,  184,  185,  208. 

Astley's  Circus,  126,  225,  226. 

Ayrton,  William,  128. 

Ball,  Sir  Alexander,  151. 
Baring,  Alexander,  274,  294,  295. 
Bedford,  G.  C,  51,52,  148,  176,203, 

204. 
Bdguinages,    15,    16,   23-25,   33,   39, 

88,  216-18. 
Bell,  Dr.,  160,  163,  214. 
Bellingham,  John,  160,  161. 
Benger,  Elizabeth,  76. 
Bennet,  Hon.  Henry,  212. 
Bilderdijk,  the  Dutch  poet,  231. 
Bourne,  Sturges,  191. 
Bristol,  Southey  at,  24,  25,  44,   81, 

82,  83,  85. 
Brougham,    Lord,     12,     13,    167-69, 

185,     189,    190,    203,    206,    208, 

210-12,   224,  230,  233,  234,  258, 

264,  268,  272,  273,  280,  301,  307. 
Brunswickers,  the,  257,  258. 
Burdett,  SirF.,  12,  13,  82,  125,  149, 

152,  153,  160,  212,  224,  228,  229, 

231,  234,  236,  240,  250. 
Burnett,  George,  2,  4,  67. 

his  relations  with  Rickman,  7,  8, 
45,  58,  68,  90-92,  94-98,  102, 
103,  144,  152. 

Lamb's  opinion  of,  18,  50,  51, 
54-56,  74,  85. 


Burnett,  George — continiied. 
early  life  of,  44,  45. 
employed    by    Rickman    on     the 

census,  46,  48,  49,  64. 
idle  disposition  of,  49,  50,  83. 
literary  work  of,  56,  111. 
his  relations   with  Coleridge,   44, 

45,  85,  103,  104,  155,  156. 
Dyer's  opinion  of,  59,  60. 
scolded  by  Rickman,  60,  61,  65. 
quarrels  with  Southey,  61,  62,  82, 

84,  85. 
Southey's  opinion  of,  61,  62,  65, 

66,  71. 
tutor  to  Lord  Stanhope's  sons,  71, 

72,  75,  82,  83. 
wishes  to  become  a  naval  surgeon, 

90-92. 
gets  a  commission   as   surgeon  in 

the  militia,  94-98. 
gives  it  up,  102,  103. 
goes  to  Poland,  103,  104,  111. 
reduced  to  misery,  152. 
dies  in  a  workhouse,  155,  156. 
letters    of,    to   Thomas    Poole,   8, 

95-98. 

to  Rickman,  8,  96. 

Burney,  Admiral,  9,  80,  81,  90,  110, 
118,  127,  128,  129,  139. 

Martin,  129. 

Burton,  Southey  at,  22. 
Byron,  Lord,   163,    219 ;   works   of, 
296. 

Calder,  Sir  Robert,  137,  139. 

Caledonian  Canal,  the,  15,  111,  112, 
131,  132,  181,  182,  207,  210,  218, 
219,  220,  223,  252. 

Campbell,  Thomas,  181. 

Camelford,  Lord,  31. 

Canning,  George,  12,  13,  149,  150, 
161,  214,  221-23,  224,  228,  229, 
233,  234,  250,  256;  administra- 
tion of,  233,  234,  240. 


322    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  HICKMAN 


Carlisle,  Sir  Anthony,  91,  94. 
Caroline,   Queen,    126,   167-69,  212, 

213,  218,  222,  255. 
Castle  Rackrent,  67,  68. 
Castlereagh,   Lord,    137,    149,    208, 

214,  221. 

Catholic  Association,  the,  229. 
Cato  Street  Conspiracy,  the,  212. 
Census,  the.  See  Population  Returns. 
Chalmers,  Dr.,  302. 
Chidham,  Rickman  at,  76,  226-28. 
Christchurch,    Rickman  at,   21,    22, 

24,  25,  32,  35,  39,  316. 
Clare  election,  the,  240. 
Clark,  Miss  (Marchioness  of  Ormond), 

22,  198. 
Clerks   of   the   House  of  Commons, 

the,  10,  78,  133,  305. 
Cleveland,  Lord,  284. 
Cobbett,    William,    149,    180,    192, 

250. 
Cockpit,  the,  40,  58,  70. 
Colchester,     Lord    (Charles     Abbot, 
Speaker   of   the   House    of    Com- 
mons), 40,  45,  51,  72,  74,  98-102, 
115,    126,     134,    155,    207,    229, 
249,  and  see  Rickman,  J.,  letters 
of  ;  diaries  of,   2,   3,   51,   207-10, 
233. 
Coleridge,  Samuel  Hartley,   27,  34, 
76,  78,  79,  86,  112,  118,  167, 
281. 
his  high  opinion  of  Rickman,  2,  5, 

105,  107. 
on  Lamb's  smoking  and  drinking, 

6,  157. 
Rickman's  opinion  of,  7,  88,  102, 

107,  108,  143,  144,  151. 
his  relations  with  Burnett,  8,  44, 
45,   69,   72,  84,    85,    104,   155, 
156. 
works   for   the   Morning   Post   in 

London,  67. 
Rickman  finds  him   a   ship,   102- 

108. 
returns  from  Malta,  143. 
separates  from  his  wife,  144. 
edits  the  Friend,  147,  150,  151. 
on  Parliamentary  reform,  162,  163. 
his  tragedy  'Remorse,'  163-66. 
defends   Southey  in   the  Courier, 

189 
death  of,  312,  313. 


Coleridge,  Samuel  Hartley — contd. 
letters  of,  to  Rickman,  3,  18,  80, 
103-107,  156,  157,  161-66. 

Commercial,  Agricultural,  and  Manu- 
facturers' Magazine,  the,  7,  10, 
28,  29,  31,  38,  64,  66. 

Commission  for  building  churches  in 
the    Highlands    and    Islands,    15, 

132,  231,285. 

Commission  for  building  roads  and 
bridges  in  the  Highlands,  15,  111, 
112,  131,  132,  181,  213,  218,  224, 
252. 

Commons,  House  of,  12,  13,  14,  15, 
77-79,  81,  83,  106,  109,  116,  128, 

133,  134,  146,  147,  152,  153,  160, 
161,  162,  167,  168,  175,  184,  185, 
187,  189,  202,  207-12,  220,  221, 
222,  224,  225,  228-31,  236,  243- 
45,  250-54,  256-58,  260-64,  266, 
267,  273-96,  299-305,  307,  308- 
12,  314,  315,  319,  320. 

Conservative   Party,  the,  299,  300, 

312,  314. 
Co-operation,  198,  246-49. 
Corn  Laws,  the,  109,  175,  176,  185, 

252,  270,  305. 
Corporation    Act,     repeal    of,    240, 

292. 
Corry,  Isaac,  51,  56,  57,  63,  64,  69, 

71,  79. 
Cottle,  Amos,  27,  33,  36,  46. 

Joseph,  22,  27,  33,  44,  72. 

R.,  33. 

Crabb    Robinson,    diary   of,    2,    44, 

129,  156. 
Croker,  John  Wilson,  154,  155,  173, 

174,  191,  195,  203,  209,  249,  295. 
Cumberland,  Duke  of,  266. 
Currency,  Rickman  on,  80,  235,  236, 

270,  287,  288. 
Curwen,  John  Christian,  191,  192. 


Dale,  Db.,  53,  54. 
Danvers,  Charles,  44,  47,  82,  89. 
D'Arblay,  Madame,  127,  128. 
Davison,  Alexander,  137,  138. 
Davy,  Sir  Humphry,  25,  30,  31,  47, 

72,  80,  81. 
Druitt,  Mary,  74. 
Drury  Lane   Theatre,   Coleridge   at, 

163-66. 


INDEX 


323 


Dublin,  Rickman  at,  51,  52,  57,  63, 

68,  72-74,  76. 
Dundas,  R.     See  Melville,  Lord. 
Dyer,  George,  2,  4,   33,  56,  58,  70, 
74. 

introduces  Rickman   to   Lamb,   7, 

34,  35. 

procures    Rickman    an  editorship, 

7,  28,  29. 
and  Charles  Lamb,  7,   17,  18,  34, 

35,  39,  50,  93,  94. 

talked  by  the  Lambs  into  love  with 

Miss  Benger,  7,  75,  76. 
character  of,  26. 
first  meeting  of  Rickman  with,  26, 

27. 
poems  of,  27,  37,  39,  54. 
and  George  Burnett,  45,   59,  60, 

83,  84. 
rescued  by  Lamb  from  starvation, 

52-54,  60,  63. 
dines  with  Rickman,  81,  83. 
on  Sir  F.  Burdett's  Committee,  82. 
letters  of,  to  Rickman,  7,  17,  34, 

59,  60,  93. 
Dyson,  Thomas,  126. 

East  India  Company,  the,  106,  138, 

139,  167,  168. 
East  Retford,  disenfranchisement  of, 

240,  250,  267. 
Ebrington,  Lord,  304. 
Economic    distress  in  England,   37, 

179,   180,   186,   190-92,  206,  207, 

214,  215,  219,  257. 
Edinburgh  Annual  Register,  the,  154, 

234-37. 
Edinburgh    Review,    the,    144,    148, 

186,  200,  204. 
Eldon,  Lord,  228,  229,  231. 
Election  petitions,  77,  78,  83,  132. 
Ellenborough,  Lord,  295. 
Exchequer  Buildings,  124,  125,  316, 

317. 
Etymology,    Rickman  on,    80,    122, 

123,  130. 


Forty-shilling  freeholders,  240,  243, 

266,  287. 
Franking,   privilege  of,   78,    98-102, 

103.  106,  107. 
Free  Trade,  Rickman  on,  252,  260, 

270. 
Fricker,  George,  80,  167. 
Friend,  the,  10,  147,  150,  151,  162. 
Fox,  Charles  James,  12,  13,  79,  107, 

108,    113,    135,    136-38,    141-44, 

255. 

Gall,  Dr.,  241. 

Gascoyne,  General,  278,  279,  280. 

George  in.,  12,  30,  46,  48,  79,  108, 

113,   136,   143-45,  149,   152,  153, 

212,  231,  255. 
George  iv„  13,  109,  126,  137,   138, 

146,  153,  154,  155,  212,  214,  221, 

234,  237,  242,  243,  251,  258,  259, 

260,  261,  262,  264,  265. 
Gifford,  William,  154,  155,  191,  195, 

199,  204. 
Goderich,     Lord,    234,    239,     272 

administration  of,  234,  237,  240. 
Godwin,  William,  6,  35,  36,  50,  55, 

80,  305. 
Goulburn,  Henry,  263,  264,  319. 
Graham,    Sir  James,  253,  272,  283, 

284. 
Grampound,  disenfranchisement    of, 

250. 
Grattan,    Henry,   12,   73,   167,  209, 

228,  229. 
Grenville,  Lord,  13,   105,  136,  137, 

139,  145,  149,  150,  153,  154,  160, 

168,  219,  228. 
Grenville's  Diary,  283,  286. 
Grey,  Lord,   12,  13,  136,   138,   142, 

144,  145,  149,  150,  153,  154,  168, 

263,  272,  280,  2S8,  289,  293,  295, 

296,  307  ;  administration  of,  268, 

272-90,  292-96,  299-305,  307. 
Griffiths,  the  bookseller,  28,  31. 
Guildford  Grammar  School,  Rickman 

at,  21,  22. 


Fees   versus   Salaries,    Rickman  on, 

140,  141,  236.  Hadfikld,  James, 

Fitzwilliam,  Lord,  211,  215.  j  Hallam's  Constitutional  History,  238. 

Foreign  affairs,  Rickman  on,  46,  63,     Hanover,  Rickman  on,  143,  144. 
64,  117,  135,  143,  144,  167,  173,    Hansard,  Luke,  205,  242;  letter  of, 
174,  218,  240,  284,  287,  304.  to  Rickman,  205. 


324     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 


Hansard's  printing  office,  268,  272, 

273 
Hazlitt,   William,  6,    26,    119,   128, 

129,  156,  157,  166. 
Herries,    John    Charles,    234,    237, 

264,  300. 
Hill,  Dr.,  39,  238. 
Hobhouse,  J.  Cam  (Lord  Broughton), 

266. 
Holcroft,  Tom,  129. 
Holland,  Lord,  154,  261. 
Howick,  Lord,  275. 
Hume,  Joseph,  257,  304,  305,  319, 

320. 
Hunt,  Leigh,  128. 
'Orator,'  180,   192,  250,  255, 

275. 
Huskisson,  William,  150,  233,  234, 

237,  238,  240,  244,  256,  261,  266, 

267. 

Inglts,  Sir  Robert,  233,  243,  319. 

Ireland,  30,  44,  46,  47,  51,  52,  57, 
68,  72-74,  100,  141,  155,223,229, 
230,  240,  241,  243,  244,  248,  252, 
253,  257,  273,  282,  287,  294,  299- 
301. 

Irish  Party,  the,  14;  and  see 
O'Connell. 

Joan  of  Arc,  Southey's  poem,  criti- 
cised by  Rickman,  23. 

'John  Woodvi!,'  by  Charles  Lamb, 
10,  39,  64,  65,  68,  70,  74,  75,  94. 

Journals  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
the,  15,  133,  134. 

Judge  Jeffreys,  house  of,  in  Duke 
Street,  317. 

Keswick,  Southey  at,  79,  91,  130, 

134,  194,  225,  233,  262,  269. 
Knatchbull,  Sir  Edward,  275,  270. 

Lamb,  Charles — 

his  friendship  with  Rickman,  2,  4, 

34-36,  39,  118. 
his  Wednesday  evenings,  2. 
Essays  of,  4,  36,  119,  225. 
and  George  Dyer,  7,  26,  52-54,  56, 

58-60,  67,  72,  76,  94. 
and  Burnett,  8,  54-56,  57,  59,  61, 

72,  84,  85,86,  156. 


Lamb,  Charles — continued 

his  play,  '  John  Woodvil,'  10,  39, 

64,  65,  67,  68,  74,  75,  94. 
new  facts  about,  17,  18. 
and  Coleridge,  27. 
introduced  by  Dyer  to  Rickman, 

34,  35,  39. 
his  opinion  of  Southey's  Joan  of 

Arc,  36. 
Rickman's  news-writer  in  1801,  50, 

51. 
writes  in  the  Morning  Post,  69,  70, 

71,  72. 
Rickman  on  his  wit,  39,  71. 
his  epitaph  on  Mary  Druitt,  74. 
stays  with  Rickman,  87,  88,  247. 
goes  to  Sadlers  Wells  with  Southey 

and  the  Rickmans,  89. 
Coleridge  on,   105,    106,  156,  157, 

165,  166. 
and  Edward  Phillips,  111,  112. 
on  Mrs.  Rickman,  119. 
at  Rickman's  house,  128,  129. 
pleads  for  Martin  Burney,  129. 
writes  the  Prologue  for  Coleridge's 

'Remorse,'  163,  165,  166. 
his  dispute  with  Southey,  225. 
Southey's  message  to,  247. 
dines  with  Rickman  in  1829,  335. 
Rickman    and    Southey    on     his 

death,  313,  314. 
letter  of,  to  Hazlitt,  119. 
letters  of,  to  Manning,  1,  5,  34,  35, 

50. 
to    Rickman,    3,    17,  18,   35, 

52-56,  72,  74,  90. 

Frederick.     See  Melbourne. 

Mary,  6,  9,  18>  59,  60,  65,  69, 

75,  76,  87,  89,  90,  106,  128,  129, 
130,  156,  247,313,314. 
Lancaster,  Joseph,  160. 
Lansdowne,  Lord,  136,  239,  240. 
Ley,  John  Henry,  2()8,  308,  311. 
Liberalism,  11,   171,   176,  183,    184, 
196,  197,  211,  212,  218,  244,  245, 
251,  252,  257,  258,  259,  267,  268. 
Liverpool,   Lord,    administration  of, 
160,  168,  180,  184,  185,  187,  189, 
192,  195,  207,  208,  210-12,   213, 
218,  219-25,  22S-31,  233,  235. 

and      Manchester      Railway, 

opening  of,  267. 
Lincoln  College,  Rickman  at,  22. 


INDEX 


325 


Longmans'  piiblishing  house,  36,  37, 

38,  47,  88,  89,  296. 
Lords,  House  of,  14,  139,  140,  147, 

153,  168,  222,  229,  231,  244,  245, 

268,  280,  282,  284,  285,  286,  2S9, 

293-95,  308-12,  314. 
Lord  Miltonians,  the,  303. 
Lovell,  Robert,  204,  205,  268,  272, 

273,  281. 
Lucas,  E.  V.,  1,  6,  17,  18,  26,  129, 

247. 
Lyndhurst,  Lord,  294. 

Macatjlay,  Lord,  13,  253,  254. 
Macculloch,  John  Ramsay,  242,  249, 

260,  261. 
Mackintosh,    Sir   James,    243,    291, 

292. 
'Madoc,'  Southey's  poem,   Rickman 

on,  112,  113. 
Magdalen  Hall,  Rickman  at,  22. 
Malthus,  Thomas  Robert,   43,    148, 

167,  203,  204,  237,  272,  302. 
Manners-Sutton,  Charles,   239,  294, 

314. 
Mavor's   Universal   History,  56,  62, 

70. 
May,  John,  25,  36,  39. 
Melbourne,  Lord,  209,  272,  307,  312, 

314. 
Melville,  Lord,  30,  115,  139-41,  255. 

(son  of  the  above),  239. 

Moira,  Lord,  137,  138. 

More,  Hannah,  71,  15S. 

Morning  Post,  the,   67,  69,   70,   72, 

105,  106. 
Morpeth,  Lord,  261. 
Murray,  John,    195,   201,   203,   241, 

268,  272,  281,  282,  285,  290,  291, 

292,  296,  318. 

Napoleon,  31,63,  64,  79,  113,  135, 
143,  144,  145,  169,  171,  173,  174, 
175,  215,  235. 

Natural  beauty,  Rickman  on,  108. 
Navarino,  battle  of,  237,  240. 
Netherlands,    the,    Packman    visits, 

232,  233. 
Normandy,  Rickman  in,  231. 

O'Connell,  Daniel,  13,  14,  229,  240, 
241,  243,  275,  279,  282,  285,  2SS, 
294,  299,  300. 

x2 


Ompteda,  255. 
Opie,  Mrs.,  33. 
Owen  of  Lanark,  180,  182. 


Palmerston,  Lord,  210,  272,  275. 
Pautisocracy,  23,  44,  45,  96. 
Parliamentary  reform,  12,  118,    138, 

162,  163,  179,  180,  208,  214,  222, 

236,  240,  249-96,  312. 
Parnell,  Sir  Henry,  316. 
Peel,  Sir  Robert,  13,  209,  219,  221, 

228,  233,  235,  238,  239,  240,  242- 

45,  264,  274,  275,  277,  282,  283, 

285,  286,  287,  289,  290,  292,  294, 

295,  299,  300,  304,  306,  312,  314, 

315. 
Penryn,  disenfranchisement  of,  208, 

250. 
Perceval,  Spencer,  12,  13,  135,  145- 

47,  153,  160,  161,  228. 
'Peterloo'  massacre,  the,  206,  211, 

250,  255. 
Petty,  Lord  Henry.     See  Lansdowne. 
Phillips,  Colonel,  127. 
Phillips,  Edward,  111,  112,  113-15. 

the  bookseller,  52,  53-55,   61, 

95 

Pitt,  William,  12,  22,  30,  31,  37,  44, 
45,  46,  48,  105,  108,  109,  113,  115, 
135,  136,  138-41,  147,  228,  255. 

Place,  Francis,  273. 

Plunket,  Lord,  209,  224,  229, 
241. 

Poetry,  Rickman  on,  23,  35,  47. 

Poland,  Burnett  in,  103,  104,  111. 

Political  economists,  Rickman's  dis- 
like of,  241,  242,  249,  260,  261, 
290,  302,  303. 

Poole,  Thomas,  3,  78,  80,  81,  SO,  88, 
89,  90,  95-103,  105,  118,  136, 
191  ;  letters  of,  to  Rickman,  99- 
102. 

Poor  Law  reform,  15,  80,  86,  88,  89, 
134,  135,  136,  143,  151,  152,  157, 
167,  168,  180,  181,  182,  190-94, 
196-204,  206,  237,  241,  246-48, 
270,  290,  306,  307. 

report    of     1834,    306, 

307. 

Population  Acts,  the,  40-43. 

-  returns,  15,  38,  40-43,  46,  48, 
86,  162,  182,  219,  220,  237,  260, 


326    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 


261,  262,  285,  287,  290,  298,  302 

318,  319. 
Porson,  Richard,  35,  306. 
Portland,     Lord,    administration    of. 

137,  145-47,  149. 
Portugal,  Southey  in,  5,  29,  30,  32, 

33,  35-39,  45,  75. 
Press,   the,    Packman   on,    13,   160. 

161,  166,  180,  185,   187,  191,  192, 

194,  202,  208,  211,  213,  214,  218, 

221,  222,  267,  278,  281,  286,  288, 

289,  292. 
Previous   question,   motion    of    the, 

300. 
Prison  reform,  201,  202. 
Privy  Council  and  the  Reform  Bill, 

274,  275,  283. 
Pugilism,  Rickman  on,  136. 

Quarterly  Review,  the,  10,  13,  148. 
154,  155,  157,  177,  178,  186,  188, 
189,  191,  195,  197,  198,  203,  204, 
219,  225,  234-37,  238,  241,  272, 
291,  292,  305,  318. 

Radicals,  the.     See  Reform  Party. 
Reform  Bill,    the  first,   11,   13,   14, 
147,    188,    248,    249-51,    273-96, 

299,  311. 

Party,  the,   11,  12,    152,    186, 

212,  214,  215,  218,  220,  221,  222, 
223,  224,  229,  251,  256,  258,  261, 
266,  273,  280,  283,  287,  289,  299, 

300,  301,  303,  308,  314,  315. 
Regency,  Bill,  the,  153,  154. 
Religious     epithets,      Rickman     on, 

169-72. 
'  Remorse,'  by  Coleridge,  6,  163-66. 
Representative,  the,  291. 
Rickman  family,  origin  of,  19. 
Ann  (Mrs.  Lefroy),  119,  120-22, 

124,  125,  130,  131,  147,  166,  198, 
226,  227,  254,  305,  308. 

reminiscences  of,  3,  6,  9, 

10,  18,  22,  119,  120,  124-28, 
319. 

Frances,    119,    122,    123,    124, 

125,  198,  254,  308-11,  312,  318. 
letter  of,  to  Ann  Rick- 
man, 308-11. 

John — 

introduction  passim. 
born  in  1771,  21. 


Rickman,  John — continued. 

educated   at    Guildford   Grammar 

School,      Magdalen     Hall,    and 

Lincoln  College,  Oxford,  21,  22. 
early  idea  of  entering  the  Church, 

22. 
life  at  Christchurch,  22-25. 
makes     acquaintance     of     Robert 

Southey,  22. 
stays  with  Southey  at  Bristol  in 

1800,  24. 
goes  to  London,  25. 
life  in  London,  26-39. 
meets  George  Dyer,  26. 
becomes  editor  of  the  Commercial, 

A gricultural,  and  Manufacturers' 

Magazine,  28. 
acts   as   Southey's   literary  agent, 

29,  36,  37. 
first  acquaintance  with  Lamb,  35, 

36. 
employed   in   digesting    the    first 

census,  38. 
his   work   on   the   population    re- 
turns 1801-1840,40-43.    And  see 

Population  returns, 
meets  George  Burnett,  46. 
appointed     secretary     to      Abbot, 

Chief  Secretary  for  Ireland,  46. 
goes  to  Dublin,  50. 
procures   Southey  a  secretaryship 

in  Ireland,  51. 
his  troubles  with  Burnett,  57,  58, 

60,61,  64-67,  90-92,  94-9S,  102, 

152. 
appointed   Speaker's  Secretary  in 

1S02,  76. 
comes  to  live  at  Westminster,  77. 
meeting  with  Thomas  Poole,  80,  81. 
first  thoughts  of  marriage,  83. 
Lamb  stays  at  his  house  in  1803, 

87. 
Southey  visits  him,    88,   89,  110, 

136,  147,  268. 
his  hospitality,  88,  89. 
visits  Sadlers  Wells  with  Southey 

and  the  Lambs,  S9. 
procures  work  for  Thomas  Poole, 

80,  89. 
has   a   tiff    with    Thomas    Poole, 

98-102. 
finds  a  ship  for  Coleridge  in  1804, 

103-107. 


INDEX 


327 


Rickman,  John — continued. 

marries     Miss      Postlethwaite     in 

1805,  115-17. 
his   family   life    at    Westminster, 

118-34. 
at  Lamb's  Wednesday  evenings,  6, 

128,  129. 

his    views   on  education,    119-23, 

152,  176. 
his    first   honse    at    Westminster, 

123-25,  127-29. 
his    house    as    Clerk     Assistant, 

125. 
his  holiday  tours,  130,  131,  254. 
his  official  work,  132-34. 
his   writings,    130,    134,    190-204, 

234-37. 
visits  Thomas  Poole,  136,  142. 
visits  Southey,  130,  147. 
checks       Southey's       truculence, 

169-74. 
becomes   second   Clerk   Assistant, 

129,  130,  135,  175. 

his  work  on  the  poor  rate  returns, 

191. 
indexes  Hatsell's  Precedents,  196. 
depressed   by  the  political    situa- 
tion, 206,  207. 
tours   in    Scotland    with    Southey 

and  Telford,  210. 
becomes  Clerk  Assistant,  124,  125, 

130. 
Bertha  Southey  stays  at  his  house, 

225-28. 
builds  a  house  at  Chidham,  226-28. 
tours  in  Normandy,  231. 
tours    in    the     Netherlands    with 

Southey,  232,  233. 
witnesses  debates  on  the   Roman 

Catholic  Relief  Bill,  243-45. 
visited  by  Lamb  in  1829,  247. 
rouses   Southey  to    action  against 

the  reform  movement,  259-264. 
his  views  on  Parliamentary  reform, 

262,  263,  265,  266,  267. 
describes   debates   on  the  Reform 

Bill,  273-90,  291-95. 
wishes    to    retire    in    1832,    297, 

298. 
sends  in  a  plan  for  combating  the 

Radicals,  301. 
witnesses  the  burning  of  the  Houses 

of  Parliament,  308-12. 


Rickman,  John — continued. 

on  Lamb's  death,  312. 

leaves  Palace  Yard  for  Judge 
Jeffreys'  house  in  Duke  Street, 
316-18. 

falls  ill  and  dies  in  1S40,  318,  319. 

tributes  to  him  in  the  House  of 
Commons,  319,  320. 

his  artistic  tastes,  10. 

his  dress,  10,  78,  83,  126,  127. 

character  of,  4,  5,  9,  14,  16,  17,  51, 
98,  110,  115,  116,  119,  120-23, 
127,  129,  178,  231,  305,  306. 

his  emoluments,  77,  78,  83,  132, 
133. 

his  honours,  43. 

letters  of,  to  his  daughter  Ann,  3, 
9,  19-21,  77,  115,  116,  120-22. 

to  Lord  Colchester,  3,  72-74, 

130,  207-10,  224,  225,  232, 
233. 

to  Southey,  3,  9,  10,  17,  23, 

24,  26,  27-29,  30-34,  36-39, 
44-50,  57,  58,  63-65,  67,  68, 
70-72,  76,  81,  83-85,  88,91,92, 
93,  94,  102,  103,  107-109,  110, 
113,  115,  116,  129,  134,  135, 
136,  143-45,  147-49,  152-56, 
166-75,  176-87,188-207,210-24, 
225-28,  229-31,  233,  234,  235, 
236,  237-41,  243-48,  250-98, 
299-305,  306-30S,  311,  312, 
313-17. 

to  Thomas  Poole,   3,   9,   86, 

87,  89,  92,  96,  98,  109,  110, 
111-17,  136-43, 145,  146,  149-52, 
175,  176,  236. 

political  opinions  of,  11,  12,  14, 
42,  45,  46,  47,  48,  79,  92,  117, 
138-47,  149,  150,  153-55,  168, 
172,  176,  210-16,  218,  219, 
220-24,  229-31,  235,  236,  237, 
238,  240,  241,  243-45,  250-68, 
273-290,  293-95,  298,  299-304, 
306-308,  314,  315.  See  also  Bur- 
nett, Coleridge,  Dyer,  Lamb  (C. ), 
and  Southey  (R.). 

and  Southey,  proposed  Colloquies 
of,  6,  13,  14,  249,  262-64,  265, 
268-74,  280,  281,  282,  289, 
290,  291,  292,  296,  297,  318. 

Martha,  119. 

—  Mary,  89,  162. 


328    LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 


Rickman,  Mrs.,  115-17,  119,  126, 
129,  131,  136,  162,  166,  172,  178, 
179,  198,  221,  227,  228,  264,  282, 
292,  309,  311,  318. 

Rev.  Thomas,  19,  21,  149. 

William,  19,  20,  21. 

W.  C,  119,  124,  125,  198,  225, 

226,  241,  242,  319. 

his  Memoir  of  John  Rick- 
man, 1,  40,  318-20. 

Roman  Catholic  Emancipation,  12, 
13,  48,  113,  144-46,  150,  167,  168, 
209,  210,  222-25,  228-31,  233,  234, 
237,  240-45,  248,  256,  258,  268, 
2S4,  292,  304,  307,  312. 

Romilly,  Sir  Samuel,  201. 

Rose,  Sir  George,  38,  40,  SO,  142. 

Russell,  Lord  John,  14,  214,  240, 
250,  273-80,  2S2,  293,  319. 

Ryle,  Mr.,  Lamb's  executor,  313. 

Sadlers  Wells,  89. 

St.  Margaret's,  Westminster,  1,   130, 

280,  319. 
St.  Vincent,  Lord,  139,  141. 
Sandford,  Mrs.,    Thomas  Poole  and 

his  Friends,  1,  3,  8,  44. 
Scarlett,  Jas.  (Lord  Abinger),  261,262. 
Selfishness,  Rickman  on,    1S3,    193, 

194,  196,  230,  252,  270. 
Shaftesbury,  Lord,  284. 
Shelley,    P.    Bysshe,    expelled    from 

Oxford,  158-60. 
Sheridan,  R.   B.,  12,  145,  146,   153, 

154,  163. 
Six  Acts,  the,  ISO,  210,  211. 
Slave  Trade  Bill,  the,  110. 
Smith,  William,  1SS,  189. 
Southey,  Bertha,  9,  119,  225-2S,  249, 

270. 

Herbert,  178,  179. 

Mrs.,  33,  34,  38,  39,  44,  47,  72, 

91,  179,  185,308,318. 
Robert — 

his     friendship      with     Rickman, 
passim. 

meets  Rickman   at  Christchurch, 

22,  23. 

his  work  criticised   by  Rickman, 

23,  79,  112,  113,  136,   169-74, 
176-78,  223. 

visited  by  Rickman  at  Bristol,  24, 
25. 


Southey,  Robert — continued. 

goes  to  Portugal,  26,  29. 

sale  of  '  Thalaba '  negotiated  by 
Rickman,  29,  36,  37,  39,  63,  68. 

introduces  Rickman  to  Dyer,  26. 

returns  to  Bristol,  44. 

his  early  connection  with  Burnett, 
44,  45. 

becomes  secretary  to  Mr.  Corry, 
51,56,  63,  66,  69,  71,  75. 

his  life  at  Dublin,  51,  52. 

Burnett  quarrels  with  him,  8,  56, 
82,  84,  85. 

goes  to  London,  56,  60,  63,  66, 
69. 

his  opinion  of  Burnett,  61,  62,  64, 
65,  66,  67,  70,  75,  82,  84,  85, 
90,  91,  95,  156. 

Dyer  visits  him,  63. 

his  opinion  of  Lamb's  play,  74, 
75. 

quarrels  with  Godwin,  80. 

leaves  London  to  settle  at  Kes- 
wick, 79. 

introduces  Poole  to  Rickman,  80, 
81. 

Lamb's  opinion  of  his  influence  on 
Burnett,  85. 

visits  Rickman  at  Westminster, 
88,  89,  110,  125,  136,  147,  268. 

goes  to  Sadlers  Wells  with  the 
Lambs  and  Rickmans,  89. 

loses  his  daughter,  91. 

praised  by  Coleridge,  104,  105. 

his  poem  '  Madoc,'  112,  113. 

on  Coleridge's  habits,  144. 

his  work  for  the  Quarterly  Review, 
148,  154,  155,  157,  167,  178, 
186,  190,  195,  218,  219,  225, 
238,  241,  291,  292,  305,  318. 

his  work  for  the  Edinburgh  Annual 
Register,  154,  169. 

Rickman  sends  him  material,  134, 
144,  191-94,  305. 

describes  Shelley's  escapade,  158- 
60. 

his  Life  of  Nelson,  166,  167. 

becomes  Poet  Laureate,  172. 

on  the  death  of  his  son,  178. 

invited  to  write  for  the  Govern- 
ment, 180. 

Rickman's  advice  on  the  invita- 
tion, 183,  184. 


INDEX 


329 


Soutbey,  Robert — continued. 

bis  «  Wat  Tyler '  attacked  by  W. 

Smith,  M.P.,  188-90. 
visited  at  Keswick  by   Rickman, 

130,  194. 
Rickman's  share  in  bis  published 

work,   197-201,  203,  204,  234- 

37. 
writes    to   Hansard   on  behalf   of 

R.  Lovell,  204,  205. 
tours  with  Rickman  in  Scotland, 

210. 
his    Colloquies  ivith  Sir   T.   More, 

213,221. 
his  quarrel  with  Byron,  219. 
writes  inscriptions    for   the  Cale- 
donian Canal,  223. 
his  quarrel  with  Lamb,  225. 
voyages  in  Holland,  231. 
on   Rickman's  capacity  for  work, 

232. 
tours    in    the    Netherlands   with 

Rickman  and  Henry  Taylor,  22, 

232,  233. 
elected  M.P.,  233. 
on  Rickman's  son  intending  to  enter 

the  Church,  242. 
interests  Rickman  in  co-operation, 

246,  247,  248. 
his  message  to  Lamb,  247. 
on  Macaulay,  254. 
roused  by   Rickman  to   write   on 

Parliamentary  reform,  259-64. 
the    proposed   joint   Colloquies,   6, 

13,  14,  249,  262-64,  265,  268- 

74,   280-82,   289-92,   296,   297, 

318. 
on  his  wife's  illness,  308. 
on  Lamb's  death,  313. 
on  Rickman's  house  in  Palace  Yard, 

316,  317. 
marries  Caroline  Bowles,  318. 
political  opinions  of,   11,  175,  ISO, 

222,  250,  290. 
letter  of,  to  Danvers,  89. 

to  W.  S.  Landor,  88,  89. 

letters  of,  to  G.  C.  Bedford,  51,  52, 

148. 

to  his  wife,  51. 

to    Rickman,  3,   5,    18,    24, 

29,   30,    35,    61-62,    65-67,   68- 

70,  74-76,  81,  84,  85,  90,  111, 

147,  156,  158-60,  172,  173,175, 


Southey,  Robert—  continued. 

200,    201,   203,    231,    232,    234, 

235,    242,    247,    254,     270,    271, 

281,    282,    290,     308,    313,    316, 

317,  318. 
Southampton  Buildings,   Lamb    and 

Rickman  at,  34,  35,  39. 
Speaker's  Secretary,  functions  of,  77, 

78. 
Spottiswoode,  the  firm  of,  290,  291, 

296,  297. 
Spring  Rice,  Thomas,  252,  253. 
Spurzeim,  Dr.,  241. 
Stafford,  Lord,  284. 
Stage,  the,  Rickman  on,  9,  47. 
Stanhope,  Lord,  70,  71,  72,  75,  82, 

83,  84. 
Stoddart,  Dr.,  186,  211. 
Strathmore,  Countess  of,  32. 

Talfourd,  Sergeant,  5,  128,  313. 
'Tarn worth  Manifesto,'  Peel's,  312. 
Taylor,   Sir   Henry,    130,   232,   233, 

309-12,  315,  316. 

Sir  Herbert,  137,  138. 

William,  45,  49,  94,  107,  118, 

157. 
Telford,    Thomas,  8,    15,    131,    132, 

181,  210,  213,  231,  249,  308,  318. 
Ten-pound  freeholders,  Rickman  on, 

279,  286,  287,  289,  293. 
Test  Act,  repeal  of,  240,  292. 
'Thalaba,'  Southey's  poem,  29,  36, 

37,  62,  63. 
Thomson,  Poulett  (Lord  Sydenham), 

257. 
Tierney,  George,  152,  153,  208,  211, 

234. 
Tobin,  George,  104,  106. 
Tories,  5,  11,  12,  79,   118,  150,  160, 

168,  208,  233,  234,  240,  242-45, 

248,  249.  250,  251,  263,  264,  277, 

284,  285,  288,  289,  294,  295,  298, 

299,  304,  314,  315. 
Turner,  Sharon,  letter  of,  to  W,  C. 

Rickman  on  John  Rickman's  death, 

16,  17. 

Ulloa,  Don,  20. 

Vansittart,  Nicholas  (Lord  Bexley), 

150,  207,  208. 
Vesey  Fitzgerald,  240. 


330     LIFE  AND  LETTERS  OF  JOHN  RICKMAN 


Villiers,  Edward,  310. 

Votes  and  Proceedings  of  the  House 

of   Commons,    the,   15,    133,    134, 

188. 
Vyvyan,  Sir  Richard,  263. 

Wall,  Baring,  275. 

Ward,  Colonel,  255. 

Warter,  Rev.  J.,  on  Rickman,  305, 
306. 

Waterloo,  battle  of,  177,  178,  225, 
226,  255. 

Wedgwood,  Josiah,  99,  100,  102. 

Wellesley,  Lord,  138,  139,  150,  160, 
161,  219,  229. 

Wellington,  Duke  of,  12,  13,  177, 
216,  228,  233,  234,  239,  240,  242, 
245,  248,  250,  251,  253,  256,  258, 
261,  266,  268,  289,  294,  295,  304, 
307,308,312;  administrations  of, 
237-45,  248,  250-53,  256,  257, 
258-68,  312,  314,  315. 

Westall,  William,  290. 

Westbrook,  Miss,  and  Shelley,  159. 

Westminster,  life  at,  10,  77-79,  81, 
83,  115,  118-30,  132-34. 

Palace    of,     10,    123-26,    227, 

308-12,  310,  317. 


Whigs,  11,  14,  79,  108,  118,  141, 
142,  150,  152,  153,  154,  160,  168, 
174,  208,  211,  212,  215,  218,  224, 
225,  235,  238,  239,  240,  242-45, 
248,  249,  250,  251,  253,  255,  256, 
258,  261,  263,  265,  267,  276,  277- 
89,  292-96,  298,  299,  301,  303, 
304,  311,  314,315. 

Whiggamores.    See  Whigs. 

Whitbread,  Samuel,  12,  13,  139,  140, 
150,  175. 

Wilberforce,  William,  110. 

Wilde,  Mr.,  124,  126,  127,  309. 

William  in.,  238. 

William  iv.,  251,  261,  264,  265,  26S, 
276,  277,  278,  293,  294,  295,  300, 
310. 

Windbam,  William,  141. 

Wordsworth,  Dorothy,  89,  194. 

William,  10,  108,  151, 194,  195, 

281,  285. 

Wynn,  C.  Williams,  61,  189,  209, 
219,  239,  240. 

York,  Duke  of,  12,  48,  136,  138, 
141,  229,  231. 

Zamoyski,  Count,  111. 


Printed  by  T.  and  A.  Constable,  Printers  to  His  Majesty 
at  the  Edinburgh  University  Press 


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